Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-07-15
THE SMOKE-EATERS
BY HARVEY J. O'FHGGINS.
ON CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE

and forced the window stealthily. Then he
raised the sash. propped it with the tool and
lifted corner of the blanket.
cat was crouching in corner of the
room. where 1t had been eating the tail of a
herring.
H. put aside the blanket and clambered
in smiling sarcastically. "OP devil forgot
to hang EN- all fer yuh. eh, puss?" he said.
Tf ;. animal answered with frightened
meow. "All right" he laughed Just as
you say. But it's lucky / found you at this
instead of his whiskers'"
He pushed back his cap from his forehead
and pursed his lips coaxingly. Poor puss
poor puss, he said. Gimme a grip on the
back o yer neck. That's the way. Come
along, now. Never mind yer grub. I'll fix
that fer yuh. Come along"
lie carried 1t to an open door that showed
the long tables of sweat shop sewing
room, and he shut 1t in there. Now" he
said scratching his ear, the mex thing
the mex thing-is-to get a hold like that on
Tommys friend"
He looked thoughtfully around the squalid
room that was at once kitchen, bed room,
dining room and parlor. A double bed had
been drawn up near the table and the soiled
coverings had been thrown over the side of
1t to make a trail for the flames. He nod
ded: TIL oil man an tn oil woman he
said. A mattress lay in the opposite corner
under spread Of old clothes. An the
kids" he added
He took his chin in his hand Now, If
ne sent the Iamiiy on Tor the night can
do 1t. If he amt
He went out the window again and slid
down the ladders to Donnelly. Tell the
cap'n," he said, Its tn OIL game-the cat
an tn oil lamp. Tell m I'm goin' to wait
here, to lay fer the man. An look. now:
when yuhve reported come back to the cor
ner of the street, see, an get in the shade
by the alarm box. An when l yell FIRE.
send her in
Donnelly grumbled: What tell? whatre
yuh doin %
PIN said. CURLY: I'm goin' to help yer
friend collect his insurance"
He's no friend o mine Donnelly COM
planned. Il want to get to bed
Yuhll get to bed fore he will" PIN said
"Yuh can bet on that. Make yer sneak,
now. I'm in charge here"
Donnelly turned unwillingly into the hall
way and the sergeant ran back up the lad
ders.
he cut down a clothesline that was
s S, from the fire escape, stripped off
ms uniform coat and left it with his can on
the balcony, jumped into the room draining
lhe p4anket behind him to conceal the omen
wlndow ana began rapidly to tear I'D the
pe9 spread into narrow strips. which he
roied and knotted into a small hard ball
Ihen he cut up the clothesine and began
10 plat the pieces together into yarious
lengths of twisted rope, working busily in
me lamp night, without raising his eyes, and
every now and then laughing a lean drv
chuckle over his thoughts
When he heard footstep on the stairs he
sprang pack into a corner where the leaf of
the opened door would cover him A hand
iumpled at the knob; he closed his fist on
the rag ball which he had made and tossed
the cords over his shoulder A kew grated
IN the lock with sound that set his nostrils
tWitching over the tickle of bristIine mus
tache The door was opened cautiously. and
nuhg SO 1or dozen stealthy breaths. Then
ne man stepped in and shut 1t; and PIN.
with one swift stride forward struck I'D at
the pase or the mans skull between the rim
OF MS broken derby and the greasy collar of
His hat leaped IN the air; his head snan.
ped forward; he threw out his hands with a
sickening grunt; his knees broke and he
came thudding down in a head on himself
IKE ouckled wall at fire. PIN pounced
on him and tied his hands together behind
his back; then he rolled him over to thrust
the rag ball into his mouth, and bound a
twisted strip of blanket around his law to
noio the gag; finally he leaped back to lock
the door, and said. grimly: Got your!
Lifting the unconscious man into a chair
he tied him, hands and feet, to the back and
legs OF It, And when he had tried all the
Knots Tor the second time he got jug of
water from basin on a box in the corner.
emptled 1t over the bowed head and sat
down on the edge of the table to wait.
There was long. shuddering sigh of re-
turning consciousness. The dripping head
began to lift slowly. The body stiffened
looked up. And PIN smiled and smiled into
a pair of wide and blinking eyes until they
narrowed In g. pucker of keen wrinkles un-
der the lowered brows.
The sergeant nodded. Jus got here in
time" he said, genially II was afeard YER
friend IN Park row might keep yuh late
And that little illum nation of yours IS been
delayed too long 1t Is. Yer people'II he
comm in on it,"
Inc man made stifed noise In his
throat. looking down at the rope around his
waist and the knots at his ankles
Don't worry about them" PIN said ,eJ'lI
look after them. Yer cat"
The cleaning eyes shifted in a quick
search of the corners of the room
rim smiled. Yer cat don't know tts busf
ness. What yuh want is to train that cat
fuh can't expec' 1t to pull off a Job like this
without practice. See?''
Inc mans eyes set in glazed stare of
stupidity, which PIN had seen before in the
faces of men of no less cunning He smiled
again, with more contemptuous curl of
the lip. What l move we ought to do " he
said, pleasantly. 'is JUS edacate him. We
ought to give him q fair chanst An r. he
don't do the stunt the frs time. we o ~ ne
TO let him try again. What d. you saw
I've lot O. faith in that cat 1 believe he
can pull off the game all right He's got a
look like you about his whiskers; that's
why"
He got down off the table and crossed the
room, to open the door of the sweatsbon
He called the cat, and 1t came to him. tail
erect, trustingly. He took 1t up, purring.
in his arms.
The chair creaked with the stealthy strain
or muscles against the cords as he came
back If yuh're not comfortable in that
seat, he said. sarcastically, take an
other"
He sat down on the bed and stroked the
cat fuh see, he went on smoothly the
things like this: A mans got right to
hans up herring err two to dry over a
table with lamp on It, Sure, he has, An
supposln there's a cat in the room-a cat
mats got a nose fer fish-an supposin' he
KNOCKS over the lamp an starts a fire-an'
burns house er so, an half-doZen wom-
en- an kids-an' blisters up a crew O. fire.
men-er maybe kills some Well. Amt the
house insured. an don't the fremen get
paid good wages? Sure, they do There
no Kick comm on that En- puss7 The
kick comes about the cat. The cat loses his
life an don't get nuthin-not even a chaw
o fish. Eth, puss? An that's what 1 saw.
too A man that's got his beddin' insured
ought to stay an look after his cat"
he leaned over to glare at his trussed vic
tim. Now" he said, In another tone. no
jury on tn island d find you guilty of At
temptin arson on game like this Neither'd
l. What proof've l got that the cat'd upset
tn lamp. Mebbe he wouldn't upset il at all
Yuh get the benefit OF the doubt, sure. An
I'm goin' to give 1t to yuh"
He got up and raised the cat to give II a
sniff OF the fish. II don't feel ea'al to de-
cidin' this case" he said ''Im eofn, IN