The Madison journal. (Tallulah, Madison Parish, La.) 1888-current, 1916-05-13

vited to don a leather apron and
smudge his face appropriately to his
trade Average Jones explained To him .
that on prcteuse Of having found a .
raro book. he was 10 worm out OF .
cautious and probably suspicious Grim .
ina' the nature of some unique anc .
hidden feature OF the volume.
Trust me for diplomacy" said !
Bcrtram airily.
Il will because I've got to- rotort /
81 Average Jones. Well e: 10 work .
To YOU the outer shop. 10 Warren and
ne this rear room And. remember. II
YOU hear ne whettiuE a knife, that
means come AT once
Tucomfortably twisted into 4 sup
pOscdlv professional pOetT~" EcTt~am
wrought with hammer and last. The
bell tinklei and the two watchers in
the back room heard a nervous. cult
waited voice say.
is Mr.. Fichtcl here"
That's mo" said Rcrtram. landing
an agouiziuc blow on his thumb nail
Won advertised that you had found
an old book
Yes, sir. Somebody lett it i'm the
post Office"
All. that must have been whom
went to mail some letters To- New
+ York" said the other glibly. From
the advertised description. the book is
without doubt mine. Now as 10 tn"
reward"
Excuse me, hut YOU wouldn't expect
me to give it up without any identiti-
cation, sir?'
Certainly not 1t was the De Meri-
It's Libror-"
y can't read Latin. sir"
But you could make that much
out" said the visitor with rising eXas-
peration Come; If it's a matter Of
the reward muCh?"
Il wouldn't mind having a good re
ward, say ten dollars. But | want 10
be sure it's your book There's some
thing about it you could easily tell me
sir. for anyone could see it,"
"A very observing shoemaker" com
mentcd the other with slight sheer.
You mean the-the half split cover?
"Whish-swish; whish-swish. sound
ed from the rear room.
Excuse me-" said Bcrtram, who had
not ceased from his pretended work
Il have to get a piece Of leather"
He stepped into the back room
where Average Jones, his face alight
held up a piece Of paper upon which
he had hurriedly scrawled:
Mss. bound into cover. Get it out
of him. Tell him you've brother who
is a Latin scholar"
Rertram nodded, caught up striI
Of calfskin and returned.
Yes. sir" he said. the split cover
I and what's inside"
4 The other started. You didn't ge
I it out?" he cried. You didn't tea
it,"
NO. sir It's there safe enough. Blu
some of 1t can be made out
You said you didn't read Latin"
NO. sir: hut | have a brother tina
4 went through the academy. He read
n little" This was thin ice. but Bert
1 ram went forward with assumed assur
ance. He thinks the manuscript i
quite rare. Oh Fritz! Come in"
Any letter of BacOn's is rare. o
course" returned the other impatient
~. Therefore. purpose offering yo
fifty dollars reward"
He looked up as Average Jones er
tered. The young mans sleeves wer
4 rolled up. his face was generousl
a smudged. and 4 strip of cobbler's wa
4 beneath the upper lip. pulled and dis
Y torted the firm line of his mouth.
Lord Bacon's letter-er-must b
pretty rare, mister" he drawled thicl
". But a lctter-er-from Lord Bi
"a con-er - about Shakespeare - tina
ought to be worth a lot of money"
"a The visitor drew back. Warren
gaunt frame appeared IN the doorwa,
s. Jones head lifted.
~ 1T ought to be as-er-unique,"
y drawled. "as an-er-anCient Roma
speaking perfect English"
Like a flash. the false Livius caugi
I'D the knife from the bench where III
at false cObbler had dropped ii and swun
IN toward Average Jones. At the san
an moment the ample hand OF ProfessC
G. Warren. punched into a highly comp
" tent fist, fiicked across and caught Il