Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-07-30

| Captain jerks. npting this. Immediately
| sprang forward with a mask. which he had
been holding in his hand. and forced the
contents down the others throat. The man
| In the chair 'cougf1ed and spluttered. and
| then opened his eyes wildly. looked about
and uttered 2 feeble yell. He probably
thought that he was yet under the terrific
hammering OF jerks, the fmplacable He
closed his eyes once more, to collect his
thoughts. and then, the stimulant having
steadied his nerves and will power, he
| once more opened them and looked steadily
upon the face and figure of Captain Hold
| worthy Jenkins q
The latter Immediately flushed up to the
eyelids. He had suddenly become covered
with confusion. He did not move for an
instant. Then he1 stepped forward and
clapped the other man upon the shoulder
he exclaimed. thus easing his mind bit
| by way OF no harm, by placing the blame
| upon the other mans shoulders 49,
O'keefe mechanically answered: IL
did,, he returned, somewhat weakly.
"You did-nothin'," retorted Captain
he asked.
II told you" said o'Keefe, that I was $
Ellington O'Keefe. And that's who am :"
wellington o'Keefe," snorted Jenkins
Ellington O'Keefe. OF course, you did.
| But how in thunder did you expect me to
| know all the names you hadT' And how
| tell you who you are for fair. You're Con-
| stitutional Smith. and by George 1 never
| knew it."
I'm Ellington O'Keefe, 1 tell YOU" he
| answered finally, but in an unconvincing
| tone of voice.
That's all right, old boy" returned the
captain. with another gentle Whack upon
| his shoulders, "and it's darned good name
to go by, too. But when you get amongst
| friends-when you're in safe hands at last;
when by George, you're In the hands OF
who you are. Old Hezekiah Constitutional
Smith! And, by the Lord he went on,
''Td never have known you at all but
for this bit of paper that you stuned IN
He passed 1t over It was not one piece.
It was several. There were three in all.
One was letter addressed In disguised
hand to Hezekiah Smith. No envelope &C.
note in still a different hand writing, ad-
dressed to Constitutional Smith The third
was piece of poper on which were scrawl-
ed. not once but dozen times, the words:
stitutional Smith of N. Y. c." Ellington
O'Keefe looked at them wonderingly. He
was surprised within himself that he had
never found them in his pocket. But from
| the date of his advent upon the sailer he
had been so dazed that he recalled now
| the fact that he had not gone through his
pockets with any scare. 1t was even pos
sible that he had pulled out these papers
and thrust them back again. But he had
never taken note of them. That much was
clear. jerks shook his head. Now, what
| the devil he went on, you want to carry
papers like that with you TO give you dead
away, is one me. That's what.
Again OKeefe mechanically answered.
Il didn't put them there. Somebody else
must have done that for me-"
Jenkins stood looking down upon the
other.
We'll. it's a blame queer mix up all
round" he said but l guess it's safe
1 guess you're safer here than back there
on the coast I'm figurin' this, and you
can tell me If I'm right. I'm guessin' that
you was being chased pretty lively across
the country, and I'm guessin' that. just like
you, you tried to turn trick here In the
west with a new pal or two-though 1t
amt like you to work with anybody besides
yourself-and I'm guessin' that your pals
done you dirt, scooped the loot, and stuffed
your pockets with these papers, so In case
you got away before the dope wore off, the
cops might find you. Then they slung you
| aboard the Sarah Margaret-for a consid-
| eration-and you was a bit of bargain
| too, seem now that it's you-an'-an' here
| you are. 1 amt goin to ask no questions
an you Needn't tell no lies. l know you of
| old-but I've figured it's about that way,
| an some time you can tell me whether m
| just about right or just about wrong" Once
more he tapped him on the shoulder. You
old Hezekiah Constitutional Smith--you son
| of seacook. you
The perceptions of Noteworthy Jen-
| kins were fairly accurate; his surmise
| had been almost correct. The mystery
| of the paper writings was easily solved,
and his general outline or the motive was
| indeed correct. -
On the night that Ellington O'Keefe
| had suffered the stroke from Constitu
| tional's terrible right, in the little mar
row street in Monroe. Constitutional had
stuffed into the breast pocket of his own
| coat-which afterward became the coat
| of Ellington O'keefe, the letters and
memoranda in question. He had done it
| with an Interior motive. 1t was not al
| together a brilliant idea. His idea was
this: That If for any reason his scheme, in
all its length and breadth, failed to reach
l completion, or If the two rogues played
him false he was pretty positive that
O'Keefe would fall into the hands of the
| police Once in their hands he would be
searched; once searched, the papers
would be found Now he knew quite well
| that man of the name of Constitutional
Smith would not travel about the country
with several sleuths at his heels with
| papers in his pocket leading to his iden-
| t1ty. But he did know that the instant
| the papers were found the police would
| look upon the form and face and figure of
Ellington OKeefe and would immedi-
ately, even through the beard recognize
the features of Constitutional Smith If
therefore. he failed to land O'Keefe upon
an outgoing sailer-and he did not know
| at that time upon just what saiIer he
| might be landed-and if OKeefe bv some
m1shap still remained in Monroe, his
| appearance. and the papers would dis
| tract the attention of the police just long
| enough to enable him, Smith. to get
| away in peace He had simply prepared
In this crude way for the very worst, in
case the worst had happened
There was one thing that Constitutional
| Smith did not know and could not know
| about Ellington O'Keefe and that was that
| the matter of establishing his identity in
| case 1T were necessary, would have taken
put very few moments. But, on the other
| hand, Smith did know that there were hut
Few ways, except by his outward anpear-
ance by which the police could establish
| his own identity beyond a reasonable Doubt
| But the police were at work: the nefarious
success of Smith had put them on their
| mettie and they were doing things both
In the east and in the west But of this
| later. "a '-'''
| Well, the great scheme had worked and
Ellington O'keefe had been shipped aboard
| the Sarah Margaret.
| Now that 1 look at you" continued
| Captain jerks to Ellington O'Keefa 1T
can see that you're ConstitutionaI SMITH
an no mistake. An I'm sorry that Sidn't
know 1t afore I lambasted YOU" Suddenlv
he broke into roar of laughter. He felt
| that. having apologized he had done amnie
| justice to the situation so far as INV
amends were concerned
| But, by George" he suddenly exc,ai,,oa
what gets me Is how ever laid Won ont
\ To think of meme, jerks a waIlonin, H.
life out o you, Smith, the strong arm man