The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1922-03-10

he carefully cut the end of q cigar
you might 60 mad, In which case we
shouldn't bother to kill you. In fact,
IL you go mad, we shall not be dis
pleased"
Once again he smiled genially.
"As said before, In a house like
this, you can never tell. ="
The intimidated rabbit, breathing
heavily, was staring at Hugh fascin-
ated and after moment Hugh turned
to him with a courteous bow.
"Laddie," he remarked, you've been
eating onions. Do you mind DETECTING
the blast in the opposite directionT
His calm imperturbability seemed to
madden darlington.
"YOu walt" he snarled thickly; "you
wait till I've finished with you. You
won't be so id humorous then. :"
Hugh regarded the speaker languid-
ly.
"Your supposition is more than prob
able" he remarked, in a bored voice.
81 shall be too intent on getting into
Turkish bath to remove the contain.
nation to think Of laughing"
Slowly Lexington sank back in his
chair, a hard, merciless smile on his
lips; and for moment or two there
was silence in the room. 1t was broken
by the unkempt man on the sofa, who,
without warning, exploded unexpected
ly.
"A truce to all this fooling," he
burst forth In q deep rumble; II con-
fess do not understand 1t. Are we
assembled here tonight, comrades, to
listen to private quarrels and stupid
talk?"
A murmur of approval came from
the others, and the speaker stood up
waving his arms.
~ know not what this young man
has done: | care less. In Russia such
trifles matter not. He has the appear
ance of bourgeois, therefore he must
die. Did we not kill thousands-aye,
tens of thousands Of his kidney, before
we obtained the great freedom? Are
we not going to do the same In this
accursed country Kill him now
throw him In a corner and let us pro-
ceed."
He sat down, amidst a murmur Of
approval, In which Hugh Joined heart
lily.
Splendid" he murmured. "A mag
niideut peroraA hon. Am ! right, sly
in assuming that you are what is vul-
carly known as Bolshevist?"
The man turned his sunken eyes,
glowing with the burning fires of fanat-
Icism, on Drummond.
81 am one of those who are fighting
for the freedom Of the world" he cried
harshly, "for the right to live Of the
proletariat." He flung out his arms
wildly. at is freedom; 1t is the dawn
Of the new age
Hugh looked at him with genuine
curiosity; 1t was the first time he had
actually met one Of these wild vision
aries In the flesh. And then the curl
oslty was succeeded by a very definite
amazement: what had Peterson to do
with such as he?
For the moment his own deadly risk
was forgotten: a growing excitement
filed his mind. Could 1t be possible
that here, at last, was the real object
of the gang; could 1t be possible that
Peterson was organizing a deliberate
plot to try and Bolshevize England2
He looked up to find Peterson regard
ing him with faint smile.
ut is a little difficult to understand,
isn't 1t. Captain Drummond?" he said,
carefully fllCking the ash off his cigar
II told you you'd find yourself in deep
water" Then he resumed the contem-
plation of the papers In front of him.
Hugh half closed his eyes, while a
general buzz Of conversation broke out
round the table.
Fragments of conversation struck his
ears from time to time. The intimi- |
dated rabbit, with the light Of battle |
In his watery eye, was declaiming on
the glories of workmen's councils; a
man was shouting an In |
spring battle cry about no starvation |
wages and work for all.
Gan 1t be possible" thought Hugh,
grimly, that such as these have the |
power to control big destinies2" And |
then, because he had some experience |
Of what one unbalanced brain, whose |
owner could talk, was capable of |
achieving; because he knew something |
about mob psychology, his half con-
amusement changed to a
bitter fOreboding.
"You fool" he cried suddenly to
he Russian; and everyone ceased talk
ng. you poor id boob! You--and
vour new earth In Petrograd today
bread is two pounds four shillings a
pound; tea, fifteen pounds pound. Do
you call that freedomT He gave a
laugh.
Too surprised to speak, the Rus
'ian sat staring at him; and 1t was
Peterson who broke the silence with
lis suave voice.
"Your distress, l am glad to say,
6 &c. likely 70 be one nf long dnra-
ion," he remarked. "In fact, the time
las come for you to retire for the
light, my young friend"
He stood up smiling: then he walked
,ver To the hell behind Hugh and rang