Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1916-01-19

wore all the ha.imar.ls OF police de
tectives from England, catechized one
about a person whose description was
the portrait Of Bourke, and promised
a hundred-franc note for information
concerning the habits and where
abouts of that person, if seen.
Marcel added, while Bourke gasped
for breath, that the gentleman in ques
tion had spoken to him alone, in the
absence Of other walters, and had
been fobbed off with a lie.
But why-Bourke wanted to know
had Marcel lied to save him. when the
truth would have earned him a hun.
dred francs?
: Because" Marcel explained coolly,
II, too, am thief Monsieur will per-
ceive it was a matter of professional
/ honor"
! Now the Irish have their faults, but
ingratitude is not of their number.
! Bourke, packing hastily to leave
Paris, France, and Europe by the first
feasible route, still found time to ques-
ton Marcel briefly. and what he
learned from the boy about his ante
cedents so worked with gratitude upon
the Irishman's sentiment, nature that
when, on the third day T.. wing, the
Cunarder Carpathia left Naples for
New York, she carried among her
first-class passengers not only a gen.
tleman whose brilliant black hair and
glowing pink complexion rendered him
a bit too conspicuous for his own COM
, Q~~ h,,f II
valet, a boy of sixteen who looked
eighteen.
The gentleman's name on the pas
senger list didn't, Of course, in the
least resemble Bourke. His Wallets
was given as Michael Lanyard
The origin of this name is obscure;
Michael, being easily corrupted into
good Irish Mickey, may safely be at
tributed to Bourke; Lanyard has a
tang of the sea which suggests rem
iniscence of some sea tale priced by
the pseudo Marcel Troyon.
In New York began the second stage
in the education Of a professional
criminal The boy would have
searched far to find a preceptor OF
more sound attachments than Bourke.
1t is, however, only fair to say that
Bourke would have looked far for an
apter pupil.
Under his rutelage Michael Ian.
yard learned many things; he became
q mathematician of considerable prom.
Use. an expert mechanician, con-
noisseur of armor plate and explosives
in their more pacific applications, and
he learned to grade precious stones
with a glance. Also, because Bourke
was born Of gentlefolk, he learned to
speak English and what clothes to
wear and when to wear them, as well
az the cultivated use OF knife and
fork at table; and because Bourke was
a diplomatist doomed to blush unseen.
he acquired the. knack Of being at ease
in every grade of society-he came to
know that self-made millionaire,
taken the right way is as approach
able as one whose millions date back
even unto the third generation; he
could order dinner at Sherry's as
readily as drinks at Sharkey's. Most
valuable accomplishment of all, he
learned to laugh.
By way of by-products he picked up
a working acquaintance with Ameri-
can, English and German slang
French slang he already knew as a
mother tongue considerable geo.
graphical knowledge Of the capitals of
Europe, America and Illinois, a taste
that Disseminated between tobacco
and the stuff sold as such in France,
and genuine passion for fine paint.
ings.
Finally Bourke drilled into his ap-
prentice the three cardinal principles
of successful cracksmanship-to know
his ground thoroughly before ventur-
ing upon it; to strike and retreat with
the swift precision of q hawk; to
be friendless.
And the last of these was the great
est.
you're a promising lad" he said
so often that Lanyard would almost
vince from that formula of introduce
tion-"a promising lad, though it's sad
1 should be to say 1t instead of proud
as am. For I've made ye-but for
me you'd long since have matrlcu-
lated at La Tour Pointue and gradu-
ated with the canaille of the Sante.
And in time you may become a first
chop operator, which I'm not and
never will be; but If you do, twill be
through fighting shy of two things. !
The first of thems woman, and the |
second is man. To make friend Of !
a man you must lower your guard. Or
dinarily tits fatal. AS for woman, re-
this, m lad: to let love into
your life you must open door no !
mortal hand can close. And God only /
knows what'll follow in.
IF ever you find you've fallen in
love and can't fall out, cut the game
on the instant, or you'll end wearing
stripes or broad arrows-the same as
myself would, if this cursed cough |
wasn't going to be the death of me.
No, m lad: take a FOOLS advice you'll ,
never get better) and when you're
shet of me- which will be soon, I'm
thinking, take the lonesome road and
stick to the middle of it. He travels
the fastest who travels alone is a |
true saying, but. it's only half the !
truth: he travels the farthest into the |
bargain. Yet the lonesome road has ,
It's drawbacks, lad-it's damned |