Page:The Valley of Fear.pdf/235

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LODGE 341, VERMISSA

I am in this chair we shall be a united lodge in word and in deed. And now, Boys,” he continued, looking round at the company, “I’ll say this much, that if Stanger got his full deserts there would be more trouble than we need ask for. These editors hang together, and every journal in the State would be crying out for police and troops. But I guess you can give him a pretty severe warning. Will you fix it, Brother Baldwin?”

“Sure!” said the young man eagerly.

“How many will you take?”

“Half a dozen, and two to guard the door. You’ll come, Gower, and you, Mansel, and you, Scanlan, and the two Willabys.”

“I promised the new brother he should go,” said the chairman.

Ted Baldwin looked at McMurdo with eyes which showed that he had not forgotten nor forgiven. “Well, he can come if he wants,” he said in a surly voice. “That’s enough. The sooner we get to work the better.”

The company broke up with shouts and yells and snatches of drunken song. The bar was still crowded with revelers, and many of the brethren

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