Page:Chesterton - The Man Who Was Thursday.djvu/293

 "Where has he gone to?" asked Syme, slipping to the ground.

"Gentleman rushed into the Exhibition, sir!" said an official in a dazed manner. Then he added in an injured voice: "Funny gentleman, sir. Asked me to hold his horse, and gave me this."

He held out with distaste a piece of folded paper, addressed: "To the Secretary of the Central Anarchist Council."

The Secretary, raging, rent it open, and found written inside it:—


 * "When the herring runs a mile,
 * Let the Secretary smile;
 * When the herring tries to fly,
 * Let the Secretary die.
 * Rustic Proverb."

"Why the eternal crikey," began the Secretary, "did you let the man in? Do people commonly come to your Exhibition riding on mad elephants? Do——"

"Look!" shouted Syme suddenly. "Look over there!"

"Look at what?" asked the Secretary savagely.