“Fortune blessed the brave--their delightful conversation was carried on in English, pigeon English as we men of the border would call it. It happened that two of those present were not Turks, but Americans, and that is what saved me from listening to a jargon of heathen talk that would have been a blank to me. “Piece by piece I put their sentences together; at first, sir, it was a puzzle, but as each section filled a gap I finally found I was handling as masterly and bold a scheme as was ever hatched on American soil.” CHAPTER XXIII. WHAT THE OLD CAMEL BLANKET CONCEALED. “Happy Jack” knows enough of dramatic rules of rhetoric to pause after this climax. He changes his posture, thrusts one hand into the breast of his coat, _à la_ Napoleon, while the other emphasizes his words with pointed and quivering finger. Taken in all, he makes a fine study. Those present, realizing that the fellow really has something of importance to tell, listen with attention, and this gives him courage to pose as might a Cicero addressing the Roman courts of old. “I have not had the pleasure of being introduced, sir, but I take it that you are the lordly host of the manor, Samson Cereal. Glad to see you--happy to have been of service to your daughter last night--delighted to meet you now, for it is against the king of the wheat pit the Turk’s arrows are directed. “He’s a good hater, I knew that as soon as I set eyes on him; and it would make your flesh creep to hear him tell the many things he would do to wipe out the past, if ever he caught one Samson Cereal on Turkish soil. That is not to the point, however. They settled down to business after a while, and we had it all. “Now pay attention, friends, and I will tell you what is in the wind. This vendetta of Cairo Street aims to carry out the will of a master mind. Against two persons the grudge is held, one of them our Canadian friend, who has interfered with the nabob’s plans in several ways, the other King Cereal himself. “I learned that one of the men was in your employ, sir, and you may recognize him by the name of Anthony, which I heard him called.” “The rascal, the traitor--and I have done so much for him!” says the operator angrily. “Never mind. He is an ungrateful dog, and the Turk’s gold bought him. I understand that you expect a friend or two here to-morrow, and have arranged to show them the Midway in the evening, as they are especially interested in the foreign countries or something in that line; didn’t bother my head to catch the particulars. Well, sir, these fellows have got it in for you and Craig. The trap will be set and baited, and before another day dawns on Chicago, Turkish vengeance wins. “This is to be brought about by strategy, gentlemen, in which a woman figures whom the said Samson Cereal has long believed dead.”