The poet may rack his brains and waste his days and nights, and raise his hopes, and, after years of study, observation, and anxiety, may come at length and place his lat stake on whech his varra being depends, on the deceesion and approbriation of the idle, the egnorant, the arrogant, and the riotous, who assemble in knots, predetermined to condemn, because to damn an author is damned high fun!

“Of course I am, thank you,” said Clover in a voice which also he would hardly have recognized, so gay was it with a ripple of underlaughter.

From abovedeck, shouts could be heard, mingling with the sound of running feet.

Through the crowd, Max saw an object with tall spoked wheels, low wooden carriage, and the projection of a heavy iron barrel. They stopped in front of it, and he bent down to read the brass manufacturer's plate: MAXIM-NORDENFELT M. 1897 It was a popular design originally sold to the Transvaal government and used by the Boers during the 1899-1902 South African War. In the interim it had probably changed hands a dozen times before being stolen from the old Republican Army warehouse at Nan-t'ung in 1928 by Captain Hook.