The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1903-08-21
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I II would like to have that trunk
checked for Boston, please-the n
with the canvas cover and the initials
y. RI I mean"
He was middle-aged and had an as
professions. He spoke in a voice soft,
agreeable and deliberate-too deliber-
ate the busy baggageman probably
found it, for with the Quickness Of long
practice he had seized the speakers
emeaning n a pair of checks, had slid
zone Of the latter off the strap. and
had darted away to fix the other to
h trunk several words In advance of
the end of the sentence.
The fingers of the Boston bound
traveller had not fairly closed over the
bit of cardboard offered him when 1t
was knocked from his grasp by the
violent jostling of a person who seemed
to have more use for haste than for
ceremony. He was a youngish man
with a red moustache ard a wideawake
cir, and it seemed he had not meant
to be rude, for as the check touched
the floor, p~ercetving what he had done,
he stopped and, bending quickly, picked
it up.
I'm sure beg a thousand pardons.
~, AS CAGidlilleu, III IdIIlSi SAdSSS1
ated apology; sit was i~nexcusably
careless in me, 1 know, butt
The slow flush that had been creep
Ing into the cheek Of the older man
began to subside, and, as he received
the check which the other handed him,
he said, with a f%orgiving smile:
Don't mention it, Sir; there's no
harm done" Then, putting his check
into his pocketbook, he bowed slightly
and turned away.
While he was disappearing in the
crowd the man of the red mustache,
whose impulse to hurry had died out
as if by magic, stood stock still looking
after him. Not until the object Of his
interest was quite beyond his sight did
he turn, seeming suddenly to remem-
Der himself. and call to the baggage
master:
It say, where shall I find the train
for Boston,"
"Out on the tracks. I s'pose," was the
tart reply, accompanied by a disguised
look that a man driven nearly to the
limit with business should be made the
victim of so idiotic a question.
Instead of trying to find the train
he had inquired about, the red-lnus-
tached man fingered for some time in
the neighborhood Of the baggage room
| until q certain truck Loaf vas Drawn
| to the train shed, when he went and
\ . La ~ -
to watch until nearly all the trunks
had been transferred to it. Finally,
satisfied and with mind at rest, he en-
tered the smoking car Of the Boston
express and temporarily subsidized.
Meanwhile the middle-aged traveller,
seated in the parlor car, was busy with
a book of an appearance as sedate as
his own. So deep was he in his read
ing as to be W of the presence
of q meek, smooth-faced little man who
had come in just after him and taken
a seat nea the rear end of the car.
Even had he CHANGED to notice him
it would not ave occurred to his wild
est ~inlaginings that, in an unobtrusiye
way, the. smooth-faced man a been
keeping his eye on him since the even
! ing of two days before.
Eleven minutes late the train pulled
out Of the station, taking with it the
three. travellers whom we may desig-
nate as G~raybeard, Red Mustache and
Smooth Face. From a chilly Novem-
Der sky flakes of snow were beginning
to fall; Albany had not been left far
behind ere the atmosphere was filled
with them and it became apparent that
a. serious storm might be expected.
G~raybeard, oblivious of h weather,
| continued to read. Smooth Face feigned
to have dropped into a doze. In the
smoker Red Mustache furtively tool
1IOul Ills pOCheI u ClleCh VIII
he held within the hollow Of his hand.
It was a check for Boston and bore
the number 1880. He eyed it lovingly
for several moments, then put it away
more carefully than If 1t had been q
twenty-dollar goldpiece.
The train crossed the state line in
a binding storm; at Pittsf1eld it had
lost nineteen additional minutes, and
it left Chester more thai an hour be-
hind schedule. It was about here that
G~raybeard, after a glance from his
watch to the timetable folder, showed
his first sign Of uneasiness, and he
fdgeted Enthusiastically until Spring
field was reached, when he rose hur-
riedly and left the car Thereupon
and followed hin-at a discreet dis
tance. Graybeard went straight to the
telegraph office, where he seized a
blank and wrote q message. Smooth
Faces discreet distance became an in
discreet proximity when he took the
liberty Of peering over the writer's
shoulder and reading these words:
Boston Cab Company, Boston:
"Have carriage meet Albany trair
number sixteen. a passenger and
trunk across city hurry.
JAMES RIDLEY"
The sender Of this dispatch seemed
to breathe more freely after he had
got back to his chair. But SmOOtE
Face had evidently taken in food fol
reflection; he did not even pretend te
sleep any more, but sat erect and
turned certain matters over and owe,
in his innermost mind.
At Springfield Red-Mustache had al
so got out to send a telegram and buy
some so-called evening papers. He &C.
cupied himself with the latter during
a part of the ruiz to Worcester. There
were two features under scare head.
ings on the front page. One had to dc
with the failure of Stickney & Co., the
well known bankers, and the supposed
guilty flight of Jonas Ralston, the jul
nior partner. The other purported tc
give the latest developments in the
election contest of a certain great
state, where a strange condition Of af-
fairs had shown itself. So evenly bal
anced was the power between the two
political parties that the result would
turn upon a pivotal ward Of the prin-
cipal city. The returns from thai ware
were u~naccountably long In being rem
dered. What could have caused the
delay had not been suffered to trans
pire, until now 1t was rumored thai
during the confusion following a false
alarm Of fire in the wardroom the bal
lots, check lists and all other data
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