The Mena weekly star., 1913-05-01
CHAPTER VII.
nm. Tables Ills Cards.

PVann0 dDlcS Tlio Ndiuos
 n,ring this time Mrs. Chedsoye, the
 .zsor Messrs. Ryanne and Wallace, ] zl.ers and directors in the United Rance and Adventure Company, -<a sat in the majors room, round <zz sat in the majors room, round -s<,lv been given the dignity of a .z<aa The scene would not have been .stbout interest either to the specula- ':~s nbvsiognomist or to the dramat. '-< TO each it would have represent. -x one of those astonishing moments 55ken the soul of a person comes out |r<o the open, as one might express 1t, I<,cautiously. to be revealed in the ex- .<ss sions of the eyes and the mouth. 4hese four persons were about going Iorvard upon a singularly desperate .nd unusual enterprise. From now on |tey were no longer to fence with one .<other, to shift from this topic to ,hat with the indirect maneuvers of { bouse-cat intent upon the quest of |ne Friday mackerel. The woman's Isee was alive with eagerness; the o1dest man looked from one to the ofber with earnest calculation; Wal ISre no longer hid his cupidity; 8sanne's immobility of countenance sas in itself a tacit admission to the 5nrning cf all his bridges that he Night Lcc re part of this conclave. #"Smuggi said the major with 6rudent covering of voice, evidently 6ontinuing some previous debate, esmuggIng is a fine art, a keen sport hg proposition; and the consequences of discovery are never serious. What's i fine of thousand dollars against khe profits of many successful excur- Hons into the port of New York; Nothing. comparatively. For several sears. now, we have carried on this business with the utmost adroitness. Never have we drawn serious atten. hon We have made two or three blunders but the suspicious of the se- fret-service were put to sleep upon each occasion. We have prospered. Here Is a gem, let us say, worth on this side a thousand; over there we Bell 1t for enough to give us a clean profit of three or four hundred. Forty Der cent. upon our investment That ought to be enough for any reasonable person. Am I right?"
 Mrs. Chedsoye alone was unrespon. sive to this appeal.
 q continue, then. We are making enough to lay by something for our old age. And that's the only goal which never loses its luster But this affair.""
 Talk. talk" said Mrs. Chedsoye i'm patiently.
 My dear Kate, allow me to relieve my mind"
 You have done so till the topic is It is rather late in the day to go over the ground again. Time is everything just now"
 Admitted But this affair, Kate, is big; big with dangers. big with pit falls; there Is a hidden menace in ev- cry step of 1t. Mayhap death; who knows? The older I grow. the more l cling to material comforts. to enter prises of small dangers. However as you infer, there's no going back now" "
 "No," assented Ryanne, his mouth hard; mot if have to proceed alone. V
 She smiled at him. You talk of danger" speaking to the major. What danger can there be-"
 The unforeseen danger, the danger of which we know nothing. and there fore are unable to prepare for it. You do not see it. my dear, but 1t is there, nevertheless"
 Wallace nodded approvingly. Ky anne shrugged.
 Failure is practically impossible.