Evening star., 1921-05-12
Continued from Yesterdays starr

Continued from Yesterdays starr
Take your hand out. Carl Peter
son. Drummond's voice rang through
the room. and the arch-crimina nal
looking sullenly up, found hlinseli
Starlng into the muzzle of a revolver:
now SIT down at the tahlc-all OF
YOU. The meeting is about to COM
Look here" clustered Crofter. III
have the law on you. :"
Ey all manner of means. Mt John n
Crolter. consummate blackguard.
answered Hugh calmly. But that
comes aftcrward. Just now sit down
~ m damned if I will" roared the
clh"r. sPringing at the soldier. Ana
PETERSON. sitting sullenly at the table
trying to readjuSt his thoughts to
the sudden binding certainty that
rhrouSh some extraordinary accident
everything had miScarried. never
Stlrred as half-Stunned member OF
parliament crashed to the floor be-
side him.
sit down, said" remarked Drum
mond. affably. "Rut if you prefer to
lie down it's all the same to me. Are
there any more to come. Peterson?
No, damn YOU. Get it over"'
Right Throw your, gun on the
weapon and put it in his pocket: then
he rang the bell. Il had hoped" he
murmured for a larger gathering,
but one cannot have everything. can
one. Mr.. Monumental Ass?"
But Valance NeStor was far too
frightened to resent the insult: he
could only stare foolishly at the SOL
dier. while he plucked at his collar
with shaking hand. Save to Peter
son. who understood, if only dimly.
what had happened, the thing had
come as such Il complete surprise
-
twenty masked men. who ranged
themselves in single rank behind
their chairs. failed to stir the meet
ing. 1t seemed merely in Keeping
with what had gone before.
II shall not detain you long. gen.
tlemen." began Hugh suavely. Your
general appearance and the warmth
of the weather have combined to pro-
duce in me a desire for sleep. But
before I hand you over to the care
of the sportsmen who stand so pa
tiently behind you. there are one or
two remarks I wish to make. Let me
say at once that on the subject Of
capital and labor 7 am supremely
ignorant. You will therefore be
spared any dissertation on the sub
of the ledger, which now lies upon
the table. and fairly intimate
knowledge of it's authors move
ments. ! and my friends have been
put to the inconvenience of treadinS
on you.
There are many things, we know.
which are wrong in this jolly old
country of ours: but. given time and
the right methods. I am sufficiently
optimistic to believe that they could
be put right. That, however, would
not suit your book. You dislike the
right method. because it leaves all
of you much where you We're before.
Every single one of you-with the
sole possible exception of you, Mr..
Torrance, and you're mad-is playing
with revolution for his own ends. to
make money out of ito gain
Let US start with Peterson-your
leader How much did you say he
| demanded Mr.. Potts. as the price of
revoiution?''
With strangled cry. Peterson
sprang up as the American million
forward.
Two hundred and fifty thousand
pounds. you swine. was what you
asked me" The millionaire stood
confronting his torrnentor. who drop
ped back in his chair with a groan.
me- Look at my thumb
With cry of horror. the others
sitting at the table looked at the
mangled flesh, and then at the man
who had done it. This, even to their
mind, was going too far.
"Then there was the same sum"
continued Drummond, ito come from
Hooking, the American cotton man
half German by birth: Steinmann,
the German coal man: Won Gratz. the
German steel man. Is that not so,
Peterson" It was an arrow at a
venture. but it hit the mark. and
Peterson nodded.
so 100000 was the stake this
benefactor of humanity was playing
for" Rneared Drummond "One mil