by Tony Verna

Created on: October 18, 2009   Last Updated: October 27, 2009

When we left our story Jancy Hall and her lover had ridden off in a cloud of burning embers as their first act of revenge had been accomplished against the first of the California Seven. Major Raithburn's mansion had been burned to the ground, somewhat as predicted. But unexpectedly, the Major had been found shot dead under mysterious circumstances. As we return to our story it seems that a less puzzling conundrum may have appeared at Jancy's door.

* * * *

Conspirators at the banquet will cause to flash

The iron from the ship:

One will have his vessel brought to the great one,

When through the evil the latter mortally wounds the former. Nostradamus Century X #2

The bang came at five a.m. Not expecting anyone, Jancy peered through the peephole and saw-of all people-Commodore Whitehead, looking back at her with one of his fat-frog grins. She opened the door, and he shot her dead!

That was the first of Jancy's nightmares, but not the worst. The second was about Tonio and the fear: "What if Tonio doesn't marry me?"

More frightening still was the realization that she may be the one to blame. She was the one who had revived Tonio's dream of revenge. What a fool she had been! There were seven men who had stormed his mother's home and took her life and her land. Tonio's revenge could take years to fulfill.

-

Dawn's early light fell on Jancy's sleepy face, and with the sunup came a somber order for her to report to the War Office. Jancy's purported 'gift of seeing' had aroused the authorities.

First daylight had also landed on a 200-foot double-decker being docked along the Potomac River. On the banks, the Professor had found Tonio sketching the swank vessel, depicting it with a blast of steam ripping its hull.

The Professor nodded, then reached into his pocket for the small photograph of the seven men on whom Tonio sought revenge.

On the photo an "X" had been drawn over the face of Major Raithburn. "One has been eliminated," the Professor said, "the good news is that I can identify the remaining men, the bad news is that these men are spread across the States."

"No care. I travel, I find."

The Professor turned back to the photograph and continued their conversation in Italian, an easier form to communicate with Tonio.

What follows is a translation of their conversation.

The Professor began. "The big man is Tommy O'Halloran, a builder who has erected a large number of inferior homes in Philadelphia. The fat man is Arlen Rooney. He owns and runs a war-stirring newspaper

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