Madera Union High School - Blue and White Yearbook (Madera, CA)

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PURPLE AND WHITE and | shall be King of England and thou, not only Duke of Neupberg, but also thou shalt possess the highest title of nobility it is in my power to give thee for without thee I should never have gotten this, formula. Come, we must start at once and have the men make this, 1 wish to have a quantity on hand before I fight Richard.” But with all their haste it was four months before the Earl thought the amount of gunpowder sufficient and all ready for the attack on Richard, who, meanwhile, had been collecting a huge army, and even then was hot on the trail of the Earl. , The two armies met on Boswick field and a terrible battle ensued. Time and again it seemed as though the Earl would be forced to retreat, but time and again he rallied his troops and started them fighting with renewed vigor. Closer and closer the two armies came and soon a hand to’ hand fight was begun. Suddenly the Jester who was fighting beside the Earl turned—‘‘See, there is Richard,’’ and he pointed to a figure mounted upon a huge black horse. The Earl’s eyes flashed, his jaw set grimly, and galloping forward, he approached Richard, intending to strike a death blow. But Richard had seen him coming. Closer and closer came the Earl, then suddenly his spear darted forward and Richard quickly evaded it and struck the Earl on the arm. Fur- icus, the Earl threw his spear again, with reckless force and struck the King a mortal blow. Richard attempted to fight longer, but, weak from the loss of blood, fell backward over his horse. His forces seeing their leader dead, lost heart and surrendered. Then the Earl, wishing to make his victory complete, commanded that the Archbishop of Canterbury be brought to the field and, taking the crown from the head of the dead king, put it upon his own head and ordered the terrified Archbishop to proclaim him King Henry III] of England. This done he turned to the Jester who stood nearby and made him Earl of Lonshire. It was late that evening, and the Jester had wandered from his tent into the clear night. He walked slowly over the battlefield and presently came to the body of Richard, where for a moment, he stood silent gazing at the once powerful king, with somethingof awe and wonder in his face at the all- power of Fate. He, once the court fool of this monarch, he whom Rich- ard had declared not even worth a hanging, he had been the means of his final downfall. He, the once court jester, was again a powerful noble, and this man, once a great king, was now but dust.

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PURPLE AND WHITE Jester was greatly pleased that all his plans should work out so perfectly and he sat by the king’s bedside thoughtfully contemplating the Earl’s chances for victory should he get the secret formula. The clock chimed the hour of nine—ten—eleven—half-past eleven— quarter to twelve—twelve. At the last stroke of twelve the Jester arose softly and tip-toed to the king’s bedside. Richard lay calmly sleeping so, tak- ing out a tiny pincer, the Fool quickly cut the chain and slipped off the key. The King stirred restlessly.—the Jester held his breath would he awake? but no, he was still sleeping on. Then, softly as a cat, the Jester tread over the thick carpet to the wall where the picture hung. Taking it down, he felt in the darkness and, finding the lock, fitted the key in. The door swung silently open and he reached in and grasped the roll of parchment. His heart beat quickly—here was delivery if only he could get it safely to the Earl. Hastily he secreted it among his clothes and then, after locking the door and rehanging the picture, he thrust the key into his pocket, hoping thus to delay pursuit for a little while at least, while the king had the door pryed open. At the door of the room he paused for a moment, but was silent, then crept quietly down the stairs and out of the palace. Un- challenged he passed the limits of the grounds and reached the meeting place. The Earl was already there with the horses and as he saw the Jester he sprang eagerly forward “hast the formula?” ““Aye,’’ came the answer, ‘‘safe and sound. Here it is,’ and he handed the precious roll to the impatient Earl. “Come, we must mount and away, the King may discover my ab- sence at any moment.”’ ‘Here is thy horse,’ and the Earl pulled forward a powerful black steed. “Ready’’—“Forward,’’ and a moment later the two were galloping down the dark road to Kemwick Forest. They reached the Earl’s army safely, after a two days’ journey, and their first move was to take out the precious roll of parchment for the Earl was eager to learn wherein lay the cause of his men’s failure in their ef- forts to compound the gunpowder. “Canst read it,” asked the Jester eagerly as he watched the Earl gaze in puzzled amazement at the formula. The Earl shook his head silently and handed it to the Fool, who look- ed at it in utter stupefication. “What!’? he exclaimed in alarm, ‘‘is this not the formula? Have all our labors been in vain?’’ “Nay”, said the Earl, “it is the formula but it is written in some code, see how the figures are repeated.” The Jester gazed at the roll of parchment thoughtfully, ‘“‘Where had he seen the letters before? “Why, I have it,’’ he cried suddenly, “‘tis writ- ten in Greek, see?”’ The Earl’s fact lighted, ‘Thou art right clever, my friend, canst read it? ] know not Greek.” “Of a certainty I can, here I will write it in the English letters for you,”’ and quickly the Jester jotted down the formula in English. The Earl read it, then nodded. “Ah, here is the mistake my men made when they attempted to com- pound it. They put in no niter. I tell thee what, we shall win this war now —

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PURPLE AND WHITE The Gold Buddha MARIE DROMIE, 717 John Allesin, a very wealthy lawyer of New York, had just entered his luxurious office, when the telephone bell jangled nervously and he took down the receiver. “Hello.- Yes.- What?- No!—I’l be right down.- Good-bye.’ ’ Miss Simpson, coming in with the morning mail, stopped and stared at the broad back of Mr. Allesin as he slammed the office door and rang for the elevator which he had just vacated. The fact that the dignified quiet old lawyer was almost running in his excitement, was more than she could trust herself to believe. Once outside, Mr. Allesin climbed into his waiting car and ordered his surprised chaffeur to drive to the bank. Mr. Allesin’s excitement seem- ed contagious for George, usually so careful, recklessly exceeded all speed limits. Soon they arrived at the bank and Mr. Allesin hurried in, puffing with surpressed excitement. He was immediately shown into the president’s richly furnished ‘office and greeted affably by that person. ”? “And so you didn’t open it, John? “No, I’m positive I didn’t, for 1 haven’t been here since yesterday at noon and it certainly would have been noticed before this morning if I had.”’ “That’s right. Probably we had better go over the contents and see if anything is missing, so we can notify the detective.” They went out and inspected the papers in the safe deposit box which had been opened the night before. None of the papers nor any of the jewels had been harmed, but a small sitting statute in the shape of Buddha was not in its accustomed place. Mr. Allesin’s excitement was at its highest now. “Just as I thought’’, he said, ‘‘why couldn’t the thief have left that at least ? Notify the detective at once. I will have that piece of gold back.” When he arrived again at his office and found his son awaiting him, he was so nervous that he could scarcely stand. Frank was nonplussed. It was so unusual to see his quiet easy-going father, excited to the. point of nervousness, that he was entirely at sea as to what was the matter. His father noted his look of amazement and said brokenly, “The gold Buddha is gone.” “Gold Buddha! Gone! What do you mean? Sir! What gold Bud- dha?” ‘Why don’t you remember that statuette that came by mail about six weeks ago?”’ He seemed surprised that Frank should not remember the event, important as it seemed to himself. “O, yes, | remember now. Why that wasn’t valuable, was it? | don’t consider that much to get so everlastingly excited over.”’ “You don’t. O, Boy, that was one of my most valuable possessions. And to think that it should be torn from me in this manner so soon after | had received it.’”’ he ended sadly.