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Show i E3C-E UK? iAaffiB 1 : BY GEORGE HORTON OopTTlfcte4, 1900, b Tk BobbUcniH Oompaay. on a nail. He then took his ser, by Invitation, In-vitation, at Bleltnakl's right. "Brethren." said the latter, rising, "or the Society of the Enemies of Russia!" He spoke very distinctly, but not loud. The moat absolute alienee prevailed. "And by Russia we do not mean this land In which we live, this part of the earth, but the vtte government which oppresses us. For what la a country, save a certain extent of the earth s surface which tyranny, under un-der one guise or another, has selected as Its own especial province for oppression? oppres-sion? The nihilist, my friend, haa no country that is to aay. no Russta, no France, no Germany. The whole world is his country, all mankind are his brothers. broth-ers. Jt Is in this spirit that we have met here tonight to welcome to our midst one of the greatest Inventors of the age. the celebrated chemist, Felix Hulln. one of our brothers. He will explain to you the nature of his wonderful Invention, which is to make thrones totter and tyrants tremble. I assure you that It is all he will represent to you. as I have talked with one wbo witnessed his experiments in a lonely region of the Caucasus. He will make his speech In French, which I will undertake to translate for you Into our own tongue. But first we must decide de-cide what to do with this man who has introduced himself into our midst, and has learned the secrets of the order. Though 1 do not personally believe him to be a spy, though I am confident he was brought hers by accident, yet he Is not of us. and he is a friend of the haughty and wealth-pampered aristocrat whose name forms the password of the evening. even-ing. He was on his way to her residence when he was brought here." During this time Hardy remained standing, stand-ing, with his opera hat beneath his elbow el-bow and his ulster thrown over his arm. His eyes were fixed on the little ball In Hulin's handkerchief. which. shining in the gaslight, held his gaie with a strange fascination, like the baleful eye of a snake. "What Is his nationality?" asked one of the brethren. "He says that he Is an American," replied re-plied Biellnskl. "The Americans." said the questioner, "are a powerful nation. If we should detain de-tain this man. who is himself evidently an aristocrat, and has friends, they would raise heaven and earth to find him, and there would N much publicity and discussion dis-cussion a thing that we wish to avoid now. The same thing would result if he should permanently disappear." Here he sat down, and silence reigned for a full minute. "There Is much truth." at length said Biellnskl. "In what Brother Smirnoff says Has any other brother any suggestion to make?" A young Russian arose, a florid-faced, clean-shaven youth, with blue eyes and a sweet expression. His voice was soft and he smiled as he talked. (To Be Continued.) ; ' CHAPTER XXXIV. i For the Good of tb Order. Tie 'American; in -immaeiilat even-" even-" in dress,, bis crush bat beneath bis el--tow and kla fur-lined coat thrown over his arm, stood at bay with his bark aeainat tbo wall, silently eying the nihilists. ni-hilists. The blood rushed back to his heart, and bis cheek paled a trifle, but .the glance that he fixed on those wondering won-dering faces, in which bate and fear - were . beginning to dawn, showed no flinching. The cabman, in tan boots of patent leather, and shining silk hat, stood at the door, with his broad back against it, bis whip in his hand. He was. a tbick-set, broad-shouldered muzhik, muz-hik, with '.little, red eyes, a red face, nd a profuse red beard. His glance shifted uneasily from Hulin to Hardy. By his side stood the little Frenchman, French-man, who sank his head between his shoulders like a turtle, and, stretching an accusing left arm toward Hardy, shrieked j , "I am Felix Hulin. I say, mon Dieu! the great inventor, the great benefae- tor of the human race. Behold, here is the proof 1 If I dash this litle sphere on the floor, poof! b r r r ! The whole bouse will fall apart like a castle of cards, the rof will leap into the air, in one little second, bv gar, we shall all be in eternity. Gentlemen, are you convinced! con-vinced! Sooner than have my word doubted, I shall give vou the proofs. Ten thousand devils! 1 am Felix Hu-liiu Hu-liiu I sav, no man shall doubt me!" Ea plunged his right hand into his pocket anddrew forth a sphere, about the sire of a baseball, which he held in the hollow of his palm. "I am Doctor Hulin!" he added; "behold the pill which I have prepared for tyrants and spies!" About twenty of the brethren had stolen into the ball and were pressing forward toward Hardy; stolen. Indeed, for these men all moved silently, as though accustomed to secret and dangerous dan-gerous meetings. But at the dreaded word "spy," a murmur arose. "A spy! A spy! Kill him, tear him to pieces! " tfut the man who had welcomed Har-ds Har-ds French stepped in front of them a! iiised his hand. Brethren." he commanded, "are vou all madf Wouid you have the police down on ust The spy is in our power, if indeed he is a spv, and we shall know how to deal with him, how to seal his lips. As for you. Brother Broth-er Felix, do not drop your pill, in the Virgin's name! Put it in your pocket. Preserve it for tyrants ana the fos of mankind. There! We shall breathe freer now. Ivan" to the cabman-1-"what is the history of this man! How did you happen to bring him heret" "I went to the Slaviansky bazar to get a slender, dark man with eyeglasses," eye-glasses," be explained, "who should give me the password for the night 'The Princess Romanovna. ' This man came out, hailed met and gave me the password. I bring him here, and then, ten minutes later, along comes this other oth-er slender, dark foreigner with eyeglasses, eye-glasses, who, it seems, is aTiTe to find his own way about! That is the truth, Brother Bielinski. I call the Virgin to witness" and the pious soul crossed himself. "Very well," said Bielinski, a tall man, stoop-shouldered, with toln, hooknose hook-nose and keen, furtive eyes. "Very well. Mar I ask. my friend," turning to Hardy," " whether you are a member of the Brotherhood, and if not, why are you heret" "The explanation is very simple," replied re-plied Haray in French, in which language lan-guage the question had been directed, r "I am an American merchant, residing in Strvetensk. I have an acquaintance with the Princess Romanovna, on whom 1 I was about to call. I told the cabman I to drive me to her residence, and he I brought me here. I know nothing of your amiable Brotherhood, nor do I wish to learn anj-thing. " Here he took out bis watch and consulted it coolly. "As we have no possible business together. I will now bid you good night, and proceed pro-ceed on my way. If I do not hasten I shall b too late for my call." l"irt why does he not speak Rus-st-?" asked Ivan. "He spoke to me isVtry good Russian." "Do. you understand Russiant" asked Bielinski. "I speak it imperfectly," replied Hardy. "I have been in the country only a short time. ' ' "You speak it well enough to under stand," exclaimed Bielinski, "or you would not have made so shrewd an effort to get away. I am not sure now-that now-that you are not a spy. At any rate, it will be a long time before you will see your friend the Princess Romanovna." Hardy noticed that the lagt two words were spoken with an emphasis of hate, which reminded him of the Christian voices at Strvetensk, spitting rut "Moschke! Moscbke! The Jew! The Jew!" Truly this Holy Russia is a breeding ground for many violent bates. "Yon will hardly dare retain an American who is as well known as I am," he said. "We dare do anything in the interest inter-est of humanity and brotherhood," re- flied Bielinski loftily. "Brothers, re ire silently into the council-chamber, till we decide what to do with tlte prisoner. You," to Hardy, "will come along with us Make an outcry or resist ' and von are a dead man on the in tant."" "I shall be a spectator of vour interesting in-teresting proceedings," replied Hardy, "since you insist. I am rather late for mv engagement, now, and fear that I must defer it to another evening." Here he consulted his watch sjain. 'Would you kindly request your friend with the pill not to walk so close to the wallf Should he rub against it too bard, the result might be unfair to me. who am neither a tvrant nor a spy." They all moved silentlv down to the extreme end of the hall, and passed through a door into a large square room, furnished with chairs and divans and a round table, upon which were a number of books and magazines. Crossing Cross-ing this, they entered the council-ehamber, council-ehamber, a long, narrow apartment, with benches running around it, and a long table in the center, with chairs plvd for about twenty people. A enemies, of Russia seated them-r4'on them-r4'on the benches and at the table. Bietinski, who was evidently the chairman, took bis seat at the head of the table. Felix Hulin, after taking the terrible sphere from bis pocket and lav InaT It carefully on the table on a tlrijr couch formed of his crumpled bandker-htf, bandker-htf, removed hie coat and fauns it up' |