Goldsboro weekly argus. [volume] (Goldsboro, N.C.) 1885-1909, 1894-06-07

a moululng OF IL, ana mad a duplicate
constructed. By means of this ! had
access to at least one spot in this great
city where / could rely upon being
free from interruption. How to get
Drebber to that house was the din |
cult problem which l had now to solve.
"He walked down the road and went
into one or two liquor-shops. staying
for nearly half an hour in the last of
them. When he came out he staggered
in his walk, and was evidently pretty
well on. There was a hanson just in
front of me, and he hailed it. l fol-
lowed it SO close that the nose of my
horse was within a yard of his driver
the whole way. We ratified across Wa
terloo bridge and through miles of
streets, until, to my establishment, we
found ourselves back in the terrace in
which he had boarded. l could not
imagine what his intention was in re-
turning there; but / went on and
pulled up my cab a hundred yards or
SO from the house. He entered it and
his hanson drove away. Give me a
glass of water, If you please. My
mouth gets dry with the talking"
1 handed him the glass and he drank
it down.
s"rhat's better" he said. well, l
waited for a quarter of an hour or
more, when suddenly there came a
noise like people struggling inside the
house. Next moment the door was
flung open and two men appeared, one
of whom was Drebber, and the other
was a young chap whom | had never
seer before. This fellow had Drebber
by the collar, and when they came to
the head of the steps he gave him a
shove and a kick which sent him half
across the road. You hound.' he cried,
shaking his stick at him: 'Ill teach you
to insult an honest girl!' He was so
hot that l think he would have
thrashed Drebber with his cudgel, only
tina the cur staggered away down the
road is fast as his legs would carry
him. He ran as far as the corner. and
then, seeing my cab, he hailed me and
jumped in. Drive me to Halliday's
private hotel said he.
"When / had him fairly inside my
cab my heart jumped SO with JOY that
l feared lest at this last moment my
aneuris1n might go wrong. | drove
along slowly, weighing in my own mind
what it was best to do. | might lake
him right out into the country, and
there in some deserted lane have my
last interview with him. | had almost
decided upon this, when he solved the
problem for me. The craze for drink
had seized him again, and he ordered
me to pull up outside a gin palace. He
went in, leaving word that | should
wait for him. There he remained I'M
til closing-time, and when he came out
he was SO far gone hat l knew the
game was in my hands.
Don't imagine that | intended to
kill him in cold blood. It would only
have been rigid justice if i had done
SO, but | could not bring myself to do
it. | had long determined that he
should have a show for his life if he
chose to take advantage of it. Among
the many billets which | have filed in
America during my wandering life, |
wa once a janitOr and svveep-out of
the laboratory at York college. One
day the professor was l~ecturing on
poisons, and he showed his students
some alkaloid, as he called it, which
! he had extracted from some South
American arrow poison, and which
was so powerful hat the least grain
meant instant death. | spotted the
bottle in which this preparation was
kept, and when they We're all zone |
helped myself to a little of it. | was a
fairly good dispenser, SO | worked this
alkaloid into small, soluble pills, and
zach pill | put i'll a box with a similar
pill made without poison l deter
mined at the time that, when | had my
. chance, my gentlemen should each
have a draw out OF one of these boxes,
, while l ate the pill that remained. 1t
would be quite as deadly, and a good
lea less noisy than firing across d
handkerchief. From that day | had
+ always my pill-boxes about with me,
and the time had now come when ]
was to use them.
1T was nearer one than twelve, and
a wild, bleak night, blowing hard and
raining in torrents. Dismal as it was
outside, I was glad within-so glad
that l could have shouted out from
pure e~xultation. If any of you gentle
men have ever pinned for a thing and
longed for it during twenty long years
and hen suddenly found it within
your reach, you would understand my
feelings. l lit a cigar and pulled at il
to steady my nerves but my hand:
were trembling and my temples throb
bing with excitement. AS l drove,
could see i John Terrier and ssyee
Lucy looking at me out OF the dark
ness and smiling at me. just as plain a:
l see you all in this room. All the way
they were ahead of me, one on eacl
side of the horse, until 1 pulled up a
the house in the BriXton road.
There was not a soul to be seen, MOI
a sound to be heard except the drip
ping of the rain. When l looked in a
the window l found Drebber all hud
died together in a drunken sleep.
shook him by the arm. It's time to g
out | said.
"'A1l right, cabby,' said he.
81 suppose he thought we had com
to the hotel that he had mentioned, 70
he got out without another word an
followed me down the garden. / hat
to walk beside him to keep him steady
for he was still a little top-heavy
When we came to the der I e~~~>a .
and led him into the front room.
= II