Evening star., 1939-01-02

finally he was nuns down on .
flat surface.
A door slammed and bolts were
shot.
An almost complete silence en-
sued.
Slowly ana apparently against
great resistances his dislocated
face seemed to be reassembnng
itself. He opened one eye and part
OF another and listened intently.
Very stiffly and painfully he sat
up.
He found he was exactly where
he had been trying to think he
wasn't. He was locked up In one
Of those cells in No. II.
Anyhow It was 4 clean one.
His thoughts ct first were heavy
and sluggish and inclined to re-
peat themselves; then they quick
ened up and became feverish and
incoherent. But they remained
uniformly disaggreeable.
He had been kidnapped and Lord
Horatio had got him.
The group had been 10 cocksure
about this meeting, all of them. It
was to have dispelled Bohun in 4
storm of ridicule.
It should have done.
But it had failed to do so, and
here he was-the leader! Dashed
and in a cell. They had made a
mess Of things and got beaten.
Ruds realization of defeat was
very rapid. He saw now that it
was an altogether inevitable defeat.
The fact Of 1t was, Bodisham
was rotten organizer-a lousy or
ganizer. The rottenest OF organ
izers. He ought to have organized
an intelligence department. OF
course he ought to have done that.
He ought to have known what
Bohun was up to. He ought to have
been ready for, counter-attack.
He ought to have been sure that
a counter attack would come.
Beaten in First Fight.
This was the groups first fight
and it had been beaten. The group
had been promise, a dream This
cell was reality. The group was
done for at the first round.
The clearer Rud's mind grew, the
clearer grew his conviction of sin,
folly, presumption and incompe-
tence. (And now he had to wait
for what was coming to him.
It was remarkable that Bohun
had not come already. No doubt
that crew Of roughs were cleaning
up Rogers and his amateurs in the
Canton Hall. Maybe Bohun would
have to make things right with the
police. There had been q blowing
Of police whistles and apparently
policeman had seen Rud carried
into the purple house. Would they
come and take him out of it, and If
so what would happen? But would
any one know he was down here?
How would any one know who 1t
was they had carried in? breed
knew he had been carried of, but
apparently breed had been knocked
out. None of the others knew. They
might not miss him for a long
time. They might not be able to
get together. No. Here he was and
here he was likely to remain-until
Bohun saw fit to attend to him. No
reason for Bohun to hurry.
Unnecessary and undesirable
pharses came floating into his
mind. Dead of night" for example.
Something very secret and very
sinister done at the dead of night.
When all the honest, kindly world
was fast asleep and beyond call.
Such things can't happen in
England" he had said, when they
had looked at the thumbscreWs and
those other things.
why not?" Chiffan had said.
Precisely, why not?
They couldn't very well carry
things so far as to kill him.
Not deliberately.
But they might carry discipline
so far as to kill him unintentionally
In England?
why not in England?" said his
memory of Chiffan.
Oh! Why had he ever launched
upon this business? What is the
good Of meddling with politics un-
less you are prepared for violence
unless you can stand hard knocks? ?
He had been fool enough to let
these others f1atter him into the
position of leader. 1t had been
fun for them. but he had been fool
enough to be serious about it
drink 1t all in.
No earthly way of checking the
time at all. For all he could tell 1t
might be morning already. In this
internal darkness one hardly knew
whether one was right way up or
upside down. They ought to give
him light. Common humanity
No use shouting.
He wished some one would come
{Copyrisht, 1899. BY the North American
Newspaper Alliance. Inc.)