The Post. (Brule, Okla. Terr.), Vol. 2, No. 6, Ed. 1 Friday, July 13, 1906 Page: 3 of 12
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CHAPTER IX.—Continued.
But it was not the frowning walls
or the threatening boulders that fixed
ray attention. The floor, which was
of solid stone had been leveled and
graded until it was as smooth as the
floor of a drawing-room. In the center,
an object of most forbidding aspect
caused me to pause, and I stood gaz-
ing dumbfounded upon the thing. It
resembled in outline a monstrous fish,
with the form of a narwhal, and was
about forty feet in length and twenty
in breadth.
I approached the monstrous looking
thing, and struck it with ray cane. It
was made of steel, and was hollow.
At one end a long snout or spike ex-
tended some six feet, and at the sides,
and, near the base of this snout, two
great windows of colored glass were
attached, resembling the eyes of some
huge sea-monster. There were also
two windows on each side and near
the center, while the other extreme
was terminated in a sharp point. This
great iron monster was a frightful
thing to look upon. It resembled some
living thing, destructive and terrible
in aspect.
Valdermere also examined it with
great interest, walking around it,
studying its sides and its great head,
with the iron bill, and its sloping tail.
He stood off, casting an admiring
glance upon it; then stooping he
placed his torch underneath its belly,
and climbed among the heavy tim-
bers upon which it rested.
“Look!” he cried, and I sprang back,
startled, for a bright flash of light shot
from its eyes, and from the windows
at its sides, and I heard the whir of
some dreadful machinery which had
been set in motion in the interior.
I looked, and the light was so in-
tense that I could plainly see the
smallest pebble.
“It is wonderful,” I cried, “but what
is it—it seems alive?”
“Ah, can you not see,” he said, “it
Is a ship. See the great searchlight!”
Look!” He Cried.
and I noted the iignt mat came nom
the windows was of great power and
penetration.
“A ship—a strange design for a
ship,” I cried.
“It is a submarine vessel, and has
just been completed. With that ves-
sel we can destroy the impregnable
harbor of Kronstadt.”
I shuddered, “But how are you to
anchor it? You are now many miles
from the sea.”
“Ah, that will be done. Ix)ok at
those great drills,” and he pointed to
a huge scaffold near by, and to an en-
gine which supplied the power; “with
these we will dig a passage to me
river, and once our craft is under tne
waters of the Tennessee, we will soon
find our way to the open sea.”
I walked over and examined the
drills, and discovered that a great hole
had been dug, but was now plugged
and closed with great care.
“Why was the wrork stopped?” I en-
quired.
“We struck gas, and were afraid the
caverns would be filled with the gas
and cause an explosion, which would
inevitably destroy our plans, as well
as the vast treasure which is stored
here, and which constitutes the capital
stock of ‘The Invisible Hand.’ Our en-
gineers will soon gather here, and de-
termine the extent of the danger, as
well as provide a passage for the sink-
ing of ‘The Avenger’—I mean the sub-
marine boat. You perhaps recall my
words concerning our inventors, our
scholars, and our philosophers, as well
as our chemists, and our electricians.
We have, stored in this chamber,
enough power to destroy a Nation. We
have the sole possession of an explo-
sive so concentrated that the crew of
‘The Avenger,’ w’hich will be only four
men, can take enough aboard to blow
Kronstadt Harbor into oblivion at one
stroke. The time draws near when
the decisive blow will be delivered,
and the effect of this blow is almost
incalculable—it will change the map
of the world. Our Order is divided
into committees. Each committee has
its peculiar functions to perform, and
each is abundantly provided with fa-
cilities for insuring their success.
Twenty years have been spent in per-
fecting these organizations, and pro-
viding them with the proper force.
The preparations are too exhaustive to
describe, but you will better under-
stand the work when you become a i
member of one of these committees.”
“But, do not the faithful followers
of the Emperor suspect the existence
of this powerful conspiracy?”
“Without a doubt,” he replied, “and
he is in constant fear of his life—he
thinks only of himself, of course—and j
the destruction of his palaces; but. he !
little dreams of the magnitude of our 1
power. He confounds us with the Ni-
hilists—the Terrorist parties—and in-
creases the number of his murderous
police spies, who make life a perfect
hell for his subjects, who pillage and
exile thousands of innocent men and
women, and transport without trial the
helpless Jew or the unwary gentile, to
die in the shambles of some Siberian
mine. Among these sufferers are mem-
bers of ‘The Invisible Hand,’ and our
committees are ever watchful. Their
sleepless vigilance can penetrate even
the mines of Siberia or the frozen
wilderness—the home of the liberated
exiles. Our committees meet in Rome,
in Moscow, in St. Petersburg, in Lon-
don, and even in China and India. Our
members walk in the shadows of the
Imperial palaces; move in the chosen
circle of the noblest houses; and feast
at the Czar’s banquet, waiting—only
waiting, for the voice of ‘The Invisible
Hand’t to call them to their duty. Only
one man ever failed in this. You have
seen him, poor devil, in his cell, where
he will remain until the blow is struck,
until the hour has arrived—then, if
alive, he will be liberated.”
“But, will there be only one blow?”
I cried, excited by his flaming words.
“Listen, Castleman,” and he drew
near me, his blazing eyes burning into
my brain, and his words seething with
passion. “On a certain day, at a cer-
tain hour, and a certain minute, mak-
ing allowances for longitude and time,
a hundred committees, consisting of
from four to ten men each, will re-
ceive a signal, upon which a catas-
trophe will occur and startle the whole
world, for our plans encompass the d - I
struction of every palace and public
building In Moscow and St. Peters-
burg. The great Kronstadt Harbor
will be mined, and at the signal will
be swallowed up by the sea; and her
navy and her frowning fortress will
disappear forever. At the same time,
the mines of Siberia, including that
living tomb of Bara, where so many
have suffered unspeakable tortures,
will be blown into eternity. Ah. I see
what you would say—our own brothers
will be killed. That is true, but we
save a nation of living men and wom-
en, we avenge the countless martyrs
who have died under the lash of the
inhuman monster—the Czar—who
feeds the Jews to the rabble, and those
who for us will die a death more glor-
ious than all the martyrs who have
preceded them. The Czar can well af-
ford to offer a kingdom for our appre-
hension. But we cannot be destroyed.
We are hydra-headed.”
I was so impressed with the perfect
system of these great conspirators that
I could find no words, but had seated
myself upon a stone to think it out,
forgetful of the hunger that had torn
so long at my vitals.
“Castleman,” said Valdermere, after
a slight pause, “to-night you will meet
Cershon, and when you leave here,
you will no longer be known by the
name of your father, but under the,
name which will be given you by our
beloved Chief.”
“Ah, then are we to remain in this
chamber throughout the night?”
“Gershon will meet us here at mid-
night, accompanied by Gideon, the
courier, and ten other members, who
will give you the hand of fellowship.”
I was filled with a delirious antici-
pation of the coming midnight scene,
and would have questioned Valder-
mere more closely, but he raised his
hand, saying:
“Wait, Castleman, until they come;
and, meantime, let us refresh our-
selves for the meeting with our chief.”
As our lunch was spread out before
us my hunger returned, and, it is
needless to say, I did justice to it, de-
spite my mental excitement.
I now began to look around me, and
peer into the numerous archways,
which surrounded us on all sides,
forming entrances to chambers, which
seemed to have been constructed by
the hand of man.
These chambers contained many
and various articles, such as work
benches, tools, drills, chests, chains,
ropes, ladders, and in one of these I
could see a great furnace and bellows,
near which lay sheets of steel and cop-
per; and there' was every evidence
that many men had been at work in
the place, and had not long departed
from thence.
“Why did you bring your money so
far South?” I enquired.
“Because the eye of the law is upon
the anarchists of the North.”
“But you are not anarchists.”
“We are conspirators, and conspira-
tors against the crowned head of any
country would be suspected of anar-
chistic tendencies. This would cause
investigation, and investigation might
cause a great deal of annoyance, even
if it did not destroy our plans and con-
fiscate our funds. Nothing of the kind
is suspected in the South, and if Na-
ture does not interfere, our treasury is
safe for the time being.”
“How long will it remain in the
caverns?”
“We will have a meeting of the Or-
der in a few months, and decide upon
a date for the removal of our money
to Russia. It will be a slow process,
so we must soon begin.”
“Will" all the members of the Order
be present at this meeting?”
“No, only the great council of one
hundred, and they wall meet in the
Chamber of Silence.”
“Where is this Chamber of Silence?”
“The great silent chamber adjoining
this and connecting with the vault.”
“Of what does the hoard consist?”
“Chiefly of notes, bills, and jewels
of almost fabulous value.”
“Why did you not convert it into
gold?”
“Gold is too heavy to transport to
this point, and the underground trip
so dangerous that we are necessitated
to reduce our wealth to the smallest
possible weight., so as uot to endanger
our lives.”
“In what manner are the treasures
of the Order stored?”
“They are enclosed in small bags, of
hard material, waterproof, and her-
metically sealed, numbered and classi-
fied, according to their respective
values?”
“In a vault?” I asked.
“Yes, in a vault that Is closed by a
secret lock—a contrivance that sets in
motion a stone of twenty tons weight.”
“You spoke of a laboratory?”
“Yes,” he said, “and it is there that
we manufacture our powerful explo-
sives and bombs.”
“Have you established a laboratory
merely to make these?”
“No,” laughed Valdermere, “the lab-
oratory has produce one article which
is worth upwards of a million dollars.”
“A million of dollars! how!”
“A diamond.”
“A diamond,” I cried, in great sur-
prise.
“Yes, a diamond, and one that
weighs one hundred and forty-five
carats at that.”
“Where is this wonderful jewel?”
“In the vault with the other treas-
ures.”
“Has it ever been valued outside of
your Order?”
“Yes, the most expert diamond cut-
ters in Europe have examined it, and
have pronounced it of the first -water.”
~“Who was trusted with such a val-
uable diamond?”
“Gideon, the courier, was instructed
to sell it, but after it was examined,
there was such a clamor for its pur-
chase among the nobility of the differ-
ent countries where he displayed it
that our cunning courier wisely con-
cluded to keep it, for he also discov-
ered that the price of diamonds was
advancing, there having been formed
a ‘corner’ about this time.”
“Have you only made one diamond?”
I asked, “and is the secret preserved?”
Peered Into Numerous Archways..
“Unfortunately the secret died with
Coroni, who outlived his discovery
only a few hours, and, though his suc-
cessor has labored for many years, he
J has hitherto met with failure.”
“Is it like any of the great diamonds
owned by crowned-heads?”
“Yes, it bears a great resemblance
to the Orloff diamond belonging to the
crown of the Russians.”
“How will your valuables be re-
moved from the vault?”
"The bags, which are about two
inches deep, three inches wide, and
five inches long, will be buckled to
the waists of the different members of
our Order at our final meeting, and
they will leave the caverns in squads
of five, each committee having its spe-
cial work to perform. Some will go to
London, others to Paris, Rome, and
the great cities of the continents, in-
cluding all the markets of Europe,
Asia, the two Americas, and Mexico.
They will meet in Russia with the
proceeds of their sales at a given time,
and then th° work will begin.”
(To Be Continued.*
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Forster, William. The Post. (Brule, Okla. Terr.), Vol. 2, No. 6, Ed. 1 Friday, July 13, 1906, newspaper, July 13, 1906; Brule, Oklahoma Territory. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc941452/m1/3/: accessed April 25, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.