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Show TOMMY'S CRAIGS By G. F. MILL1N ifopyrlalit II by JuMpli H lli.wl.s I Thomas Traddles Tommy Trad lira, h wo nil called lilm mob a il quant anil Intonating old bachelor Ho was cry opulnr In a wide circle of acquaintances, for nddod In Ills amiable personal iiihIIII(ii. ho had plenty of money and waa gloriously ' hospitable At the same lime lie jut tossed parsimonious peculiarities that made, him Ihu aubjrcl of Innumerable good stories, adding considerably to the amusement n( all who know him. SUM he wns. Imleeil, Ihu hint man In i the world we would havo expected to bo bowled out In an art not quite consistent with severest rectitude. So when Dickson rame hurriedly Into our liotcl at tlnnliiKiic und told ua that Tommy wa proposing to do a little smuggling, we were all disposed to be Increduloiia Wo had picked iii Traddlea on our I way home from an autumn holiday In Normandy It waa llio morning of ' tho day on which wo had arrived to take, tho boat ncmss from llnulogno that Dickson told ua how he had chanced to spy Iho solemn, iiiimncu-lato iiiimncu-lato Tommy In Ihu ver) net o( maklnR up a brown paicr parcel of dried hot-nnlcnl hot-nnlcnl nprelinrna. In Iho twiddle ot whtrh ho waa cunningly concealing some bundle of I'ctHs llouqucts, evidently evi-dently In tho hupo ot smuggling them, Wo felt wo had Rot Tommy on tnaat thla time, and wo owed him n lone acoru for practical witticisms plajrd upon us, Now wo could pay Id in In his own ruin, nlthouKh wn couldn't ngtco na lo tho heat method ot doltiR It. What we wanted waa to oxposo Tomin)' llttlo entrrprlao without with-out doing him any real harm, and that was Just what wn couldn't quite boo our way lo do KliiKslone took mi part In the discussion dis-cussion mil 11 we seemed to havo reached the end of our Invcntlro re-sources; re-sources; then he quietly nnnnunced that he hail n capital plan, and If wo would follow his dlii-cllntis, Tommy should hne a startling ahow-up. With Iho promptitude of a master mind In command of dolta Klngstnno first held n whispering aside with the aim pic hearted Dlrkaon, and then aeul him away on tcmio errand, and with many an Irrepreaalhle chuckle, ho proceeded to Inlllnlo tho oilier Into Iho parts laeh would play In Ills plot. According to Instructions, wo began by t!lHpln)lnK nn Inquisitive Interest In Traddlea' parrel aa aoon aa wo got ., , on bourd tho bout, We offered to lend , liliii a small poriiiiautouif to which ho might transfer Ida hotanlral sped-mens. sped-mens. It would bo tnoro convenient and would look better. As our vn)nge progressed, no agreed that Traddlea waa not happy. Apparentl), thu inrrel weighed on Ills mind, ami quite unscrupulously nn took uvory meaiia of IncrenalnK hla unenaliieaii. Wo enlarged on Iho folly of smuggling, nnd told tales of Ignominious cxosuro and heavy linen. "Klncei!" ei hoed one of our party "They don't line uowndit) Slnco Iho last ut't the penally for smuggling smug-gling la Impilaouini nl. without tho option of a tine" I'oor Toiiiiid'h fare waa n alud). Ilia Jaw- dropped dismally, nnd ho looked altogether miKidy and miser-ubla. miser-ubla. Aa wo drew neni Iho end of tho vo)ngu TrnddlvH looked na If ho would she worlds for Iho opiortiiuity to diop Iho wretched parcel over-board, over-board, If only he could get out of our alght for u moment Wo took good enre, however, that theio should bo no backing out of the enterprise, nnd as Tommy marched down the gangwo), ho looked, or wu fancied he did, a llttlo white about tho mouth, but ho held hla virtuous bead mi upright, up-right, and dandled tho parcel with such nn air of Intiorint concern, ihnt ho might have passed through hut for the astounding action of Dickson, who hurried forward nnd lipped a wink to tho man In ImttoiiH aa ho passed. "An) thing lo declare?" was thu phlegmatic official Inquiry, as Tommy passed. "Nothing dutiable," declined tho audacious Tommy, with an air of dignity that should have cairlcd collection. coll-ection. "Only botanical specimens and nnd one or two other things Not dutiable, I assure, you." Tommy tried very hard lo maintain an aspect ot outraged dignity as Iho officer resolutely began to untie tho parcel, but ho couldn't help betraying betray-ing tho greatest agitation I la stood Iho very plcfuro of a detected criminal crim-inal Ho protested, then ho blustered and coaxed. It was, of course, useless, and tho official was deaf la entreat) With heartless deliberation he llrst opened an outside paper, then an Inner paper, pa-per, and then began to rummage among the liotanlcnl specimens, In Iho center ot which ho found a small, crusty loaf of bread' It waa, of course, the eij Tamil lar Joko that Dickson had perpetrated j Under Klugituno's direction Ho had contrived to take out the cigars and slip in tho loaf, and then had set Iho customs official on tho intending, smuggler. "Sir, I told you there waa nothing to declare!" said Tomm), merrily, aa Iho man deftly relied iho parcel and pushed It fiom 111 m Wo present!) dlscovoied 111 ni locked In a first class 'U rlaso quite h) him- UllHHHHIHI aelf, apparentl) Intending lo cut iu Thai, of CHiurae, roiildn t be permit ted, mi some one produced a ke) and we trooped In, iharllabl) Ix-nt on reeoiirlllathifi 'Onlv a bit of holldii) fun von know. Traddlea Don'l Inke il lot serloiisl) old man. pleaded Dick son "You admit, then, thai ou took Ihem out ot in) parcel?' said Tom my. opening hla moiilli for the llrst time, ami tpeuklng with an otlendiil air "I don'l deny It." said Dlckaon "but )ou know, Tnutdlea )oii might have " "Ami son were all parties to 'he theft'" he Interrupted ' llntig It nil, Traddlea." urged Dirk son, Mm rnn't any we stole Jour cigars, when the worst woAc donehaa been In get 'em through Hie cua lotna for ou" Well. tepll.'l Traddlea quite Implacable, and awaking In Ida sternest manner, "I won't any an) thing further on the score of the ft. hut I'll show )ou what I'll do." And to our amazement he dropped Ihu window and shouted lo a customs officer who stood on Iho other aldo of tho platform The man came promptly prompt-ly to his rail, and Tommy addressed him "Orfleer," he said, 'this man admits having brought I hose clears nsborc In his handbag without having officially offi-cially declared them" Having said this, lie dropped Into hla corner with the air of a man who had accomplished accom-plished n painful duty For the llrst lime In our knowledge of him, Tomm), thu hospitable, so clablo old Joker, had done a really malicious thing The officer's manner waa very quiet nnd ver) serious. Tnklug iiossessloti of Iho cigars, ho Intimated that Dlckaon Dlck-aon must accompany Ii 1 lit to tho an pcrvlsnr, and with something like n groan, the culprit departed W all trooped after him, nnd na we left tho rnulago every one of us, except King stone .hurled reproaches at the grim figure In the corner, who went on tn (own by Iho train, which started very soon after wo left It We tried to make tho supervisor understand un-derstand what had happened i tn show hi in that tho real euprlt was tho Informer In-former himself. Hut although tho olllcrr looked sagacious enough, ho seemed extremely dense, nnd could "Oo to the Devil!" see nothing but Ihu fact thai 11 was not the Informer who was actually gullly of smuggling We had worked ourselves to a ell max of exasperation, when n lid ramu In nnd handed tho supervisor a note, lie opened tho note, and aa ho read wn saw that It contained a surprise Hn hastll) turned tn Tummy's I'etlla llniiquela that hi) on thu labln bealdn him, eagerl) exam Inlng first one nnd then nnothei. Ilnall) extracting a cigar; ho broke It In two, then suddenly selling both bundles ho camo out to in In a lowering rngo "Tako jour rubbish and go to Iho devil!" ho said. "What's up? What'a the mattei nuw?" we broke out, enrh In his own way. "Clear mil, I tell )ou," ruined tho furious official, "I've had enough of this foolery." "What do )ou mean'.'" ejaculated Dlcksnn, nnd as he spoke he drew oul ono of the Pellts llonqueta nnd broke It ua he had seen tho supervisor do and then we saw what Tommy hau done They wcro mere dummies ol cigars, and of course were not dutla hie at all "Wo shall Just culch the 4. IS, ' suhl Kingston!- In hla driest manner "Wc shall find Tommy on thu platform with iho lugsnge I believe he expects ua to dine with him nl the Cillcirlun tonight lie wlied up to strange. I know " Dickson Hits the mil) one who did not look like giving a lend) nccept ance. for he had been specially vie limited all ihiough "IjKik hoio, Klngsloue," he said, as soon as we had go I out of Ihu super visor's office, 'did old Ti addles let me seu him making up that paicel on piiriose?" Of course he did.' replied Kings lone, taking him b) tho arm. and moving on 'He's been planning this llttlo sell for weeks Come on or bill lose Hie train |
