ves,
what time he peeled factitious whiskers from his face and shook their
stickiness from his fingers. His Irish friend, with brilliant but less
elaborate comments, struggled to depilate a Kaiser-like moustache from
his upper lip.

"What are ye sittin' still for-r?" shouted the Scotsman, and banged a
card on the desk. "I'm Hector Murray, and this is John Macready of
Melbourne. We've been held up by the highwaym'n Bablon. Turrn out the
forrce. Turrn out the dom'd diveesion. Get a move on ye, mon!"

The accumulated power of the three names--Hector Murray, John Macready,
and Severac Bablon--galvanised the station into sudden activity, and an
extraordinary story, a fabulous story, was gleaned from the excited
gentlemen. It appeared in every paper on the following morning, so it
cannot better be presented here than in the comparatively simple form
wherein it met the eyes of readers of the _Gleaner's_ next issue. Cuts
have been made where the reporter's account overlaps the preceding, or
where he has become purely rhetorical.

SIX FAMOUS CAPITALISTS KIDNAPPED

SEVERAC BABLON ACTIVE AGAIN

AMAZING OUTRAGE AT THE ASTORIA

Under these heads appeared a full and finely descriptive account of the
happenings already noticed.

DRAMATIC ESCAPE OF MR. MACREADY AND MR. HECTOR MURRAY

SPECIAL INTERVIEW WITH MR. MURRAY

WHERE ARE THE MISSING MAGNATES?

IS SCOTLAND YARD EFFETE?

From Mr. Hector Murray ... our special representative obtained a
full account of the outrage, which threw much light upon a mystery
that otherwise appeared insoluble. After ... they entered the room
at the Astoria, where they had agreed to discuss a plan of mutual
action against the common enemy of Capital, Mr. Murray informed our
representative that nothing unusual took place for some twenty
minutes or half an hour. Baron Hague had just risen to make a
proposal, when the lights were extinguished.

As it was a very black night, the room was plunged into complete
darkness. Before anyone had time to ascertain the meaning of the
occurrence, a voice, which our representative was informed seemed
to proceed from the floor, uttered the following words:

"Let no one speak or move. Mr. Macready place your revolver upon
the table." (Mr. Macready was the only member of the company who
was armed, and, curiously enough, as the voice commenced he had