The Globe-republican., 1894-07-06
a. 1870 ;e<
MA57gglplYl 8
HE! IS@RElEIa';
PART II.
By A. CONAN DOYLE.

1.-THE moment for which had waited
20 long had at last come. had my
enemies within my power. Together
they could protect each other, but
singly they were at my mercy. | did
1ot act. however, with undue precip-
'itation. My plans were already
formed. There is no satisfaction in
vengeance unless the offender has
time to realize who it is that strikes
him. and why retribution has come up
On him. had my plans arranged by
which should have the opportunity
Of making the man who had wrOnged
me understand that his old sin had
found him out 1t CHANGED that some
lays before gentleman who had been
engaged in looking over some houses
in the Brixton road had dropped the
key of one of them in my carriage. 1t
was claimed that same evening and re-
turned: but in the interval had taken
q moulding of it. and had duplicate
constructed. BY means of this ! had
access to at least one spot in this great
city where l could rely upon being
free from interruption. How to get
Drebber to that house was the diff
cult problem which 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
we'll on. There was a hanson just in
front of me. and he hailed it. | 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. | could not
imagine what his intention was in re-
turning there; but | went on and
pulled up my cab hundred yards or
SO from the house. He entered it and
his hanson drove away. Give me
glass of water. if you please. My
mouth gets dry with the talking"
handed him the glass and he drank
it down.
That's better" he said. ''Well, l
waited for quarter of an hour or
more, when suddenly there came
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 l had never
seen before This fellow had Drebber
by the collar, and when they came TO
the head of the steps he gave him a
shove and kick which sent him half
across the road. You hound! he cried,
shaking his stick at him; I'll teach you
to insult an honest girl- He was so
hot that think he would have
thrashed Drebber with his cudgel. only
that the cur staggered away down the
road as fast as his legs would carry
him. lie 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
feared lest at this last moment my
aneurism might go wrong. l drove
along slowly. weighing in my own mind
what it was best to do. might take
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 gin palace. He
went in. leaving word that I should
wait for him. There he remained I'M
til closing-time. and when he came out
he was SO far gone that I knew the
game was in my own hands
Don't imagine that I intended to
kill him in cold blood. It would only
have been rigid justice if had done
so. but could not bring myself to do
It. I 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.
was once a janitor and sweep-out of
the laboratory at York college. One
day the professor was lecturing 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 that the least grain
neant instant death. I spotted the
bottle in which this preparation was
kept. and when they were all gone
helped myself to . little of it was .
thirty good dispenser. 30 worked this
aIlkaloid into small. soluble pills. and
each pill put in q box with similar
pill made without poison I deter
mined 1t the time that. when had my
1hance. my gentlemen should each