Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1895-01-17
BY CONAN DOYLE.

he would soon rejoin him. ffls CONF
panion demonstrated with in, and re-
minded him that they had resolved to
stick together. Drebber answered that
the matter was delicate one, and that
he must so alone. l could not catch
what Stangerson said to that. but the
other burst out swearing, and remind
ed him that he was nothing more than
his paid servant. and that he must
not presume to dictate to him. On that
the secretary gave it up as bad job,
and simply bargained with him that If
he missed the last train he should join
him at Halliday's Private hotel. to
which Drebber answered that he would
! be back en- the platform before II,
and made his way out of the STATEN.
| The moment for which had waited
so long had at last come. I had my
enemies within my power. Together
they could protect each other but sing
| ~ they We're at my mercy. l did not
act. however, with undue precipitation.
| Ny plans We're already formed. There
is no satisfaction in vengeance unless
i the offender has time to realize who it
| is that strikes him. 1 had my plans
arranged, by which I should have the
| opportunity of making the man who
had wrcnged me understand that his
| old sin had found him out. 1t CHANGED
that some days before a gentleman
| who had been engaged in looking over
some houses in the BriXton Road had
| dropped the key of them in my car
rage 1t was claimed that same eveD-
| ing and returned, but in the interval ]
had taken 4 moulding of it, and had
| Il duplicate constructed. BY means OF
this I had access to at least one spot
| in this great city where I could rely
upon being free from interruption. How
| to get Dre.ber to that house was the
! difficult problem which had to solve.
He walked down the road and went
into one of the liquor-shops, staying for
! nearly half an hour in the last of them.
| When he carle out he staggered in his
walk and was evidently pretty we'll
on. There was Il hanson just in front
| of ME, and he halted it. l followed it
| so close that the nose of my horse
| was within yard of the driver the
! whole way. We ratified across Water
! loo bridge and through miles of streets,
| until to my aStonishmant. we found
| ourselves back in the terrace III Which
| he had boarded. could not imagine
| there. but I went on and pulled up my
! "
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
I handed him the glass. and he drank
| the water.
| CHATS BETTER he said "Well,
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 Il young chap whom !
| had never seen before. This
| fellow had Drebber by the collar,
| and when they came to the head of the
steps they gave him shove and 8
kick which sent him half across The
! road. You hound' he cried, shaking
| his stick at him, I'll teach you to III
| suit an honest girl! He was so hot thai
| think he would have thrashed Dreb
| Der, with his cudgel, only that the cm
staggered away from the road as fas
| as his legs would carry him. He rar
as far as the corner, and then, seeing
my cab, he hailed me and jumped in.
Drive me to Halliday's Private Hotel
he said.
"When had Aim fairly inside my
cab my heart jumped so with joy that
feared lest at this last moment my
aneurism might go wrong. 1 drove
along slowly, weighing in my own
mind what it WAS best to do. might
have taken him out into the country,
and there in some deserted lane have
my last interview with him. had al
most decided upon this, when he solv-
ed the problem for me- The craze for
drink had seized him again, and he Or
dered me to pull up outside gin pal
ace. lie went in, leaving word that
should wait for him. There he remain
ed until closing time, and when he
came out he was far gone that knew
the game was in my own hands.
| Don't imagine that I intended to
kill him in cold blood. 1t would only
have been rigid justice if 1 had done
so, but I could not bring myself to do
it. I had long determined that he
should have show for his life, if he
chose to take advantage Of it. Among
the many billets which I have filled
In America during my wandering life,
l was once janitor and sweeper 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 South Ameri-
can arrow poison, and which was SO
powerful that the least grain meant
instant death. I spotted the bottle in
which the preparation was kept, and
when they were all gone 1 helped my
self to little Of it. was a fairly
good dispenser, so I worked this aka
loid into small soluble pills, and each
pill l put in box with a similar pill
made without the poison. determin-
ed at the time that when I had my
chance my gentlemen should each have
draw out of one Of these boxes, while
ate the pill that remained. 1t would
be quite as deadly and good deal
less noisy than firing across hand
kerchief. From that had always my
pill boxes about me, and the time had
now come, when was to use them.
ut was nearer 1 than 12 and wild
bleak night, blowing hard and raining
in torrents. Dismal as it was outside
was glad within-so glad that I could