Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-06-10

shop. There he entered and came out p
| q quarter OF an hour with his coat mended
This was In street In Westminster. Pres.
emily he worked his way up to TothiH
sers shop nt took ns CAUTIOUS psep 1t the
| window. saw two or three other customers
| also waiting and took the opportunity to
| rush over to notion shop and buy these
| blue spectacles, and to a hatter's for these
s yours Is too bis IL was rather se long
| while in the BARRIERS, and finally came out.
as you saw him. with no mustache. This
| was a good indication. 1t made 1t palmer
| than ever that ne had believed my warning
as to the police descent on the house in
Gold street and its frequenters; which was
| right and proper, for what told him was
quite true. The rest you know. He cabbed
| to the station, and so did /. :"
And now perhaps" 1 said. after giving
me the character of a thief wanted by the
| Manchester police, forcibly depriving me
| Of my hat in exchange for this all-too-large
| cap, and rushing me off out of London
| without any definite idea of when I'm COM
| ing back. perhaps you'll tell me what we're
| after"
| Hewitt laughed. "You wanted to join in,
| you know he said, 'and you must take
your luck as 1t comes. AS a matter of
| fact there is scarcely anything in my pro-
! fession SO embarrassing and so difficult as
| this watching and following business. Often
| it lasts for weeks. When alight we
| shall have to follow Wiiks again under
| the most difficult possible conditions in the
| country. There it is often quite impossible
| to follow man unobserved. 1t Is only be-
! cause 1t is the only way that l am under
| taking it now. AS to what were after.
| you know that as well 1.-The Qunton
ruby. Wilks has hidden it, and without
| his help it would be impossible to find it.
| We are following him so that he will find
| 1t for US
| 10 7 tn
| avoid sharing with Hollams?'
| "Of course. and awaited himself of the
| fact of Leamy having carried the bag to
| direct Hollams suspicion from him. Hol-
| lams found out by his repeated searches
| Of Leamy and his lodgings that this was
wrong, and this morning evidently tried
( to persuade the ruby out Of Wilks' pos
| session with revolver. We saw the up
| shot Of that"
| Kedderby station was about forty
miles out At each intermediate stops
| ping station Hewitt watched earnest
ly, but Wilks remained in the train
what fear" Hewitt observed. lis
| that at Kedderby he may take a fly. To
stalk a man on foot in the country is diff
| cult enough; but you can't follow one We
| hicle In another without being spotted. But
| If he's smart as think, he won't do It.
| A man travelling in a fly is noticed and re-
| membered in these places"
He did not take fly. At Kedderby we
| the station. The train stood for few
minutes, and he was out of the station be-
| fore we allghted. Through the ratings be-
hind the platform we could see him walk
| ing briskly away to the right. From the
| ticket collector we ascertained that Radcot
lay in that direction. three miles off.
To my dying day shall never forget
dred. In the still country almost every
football seemed audible for any distance,
and in the long stretches OF road one could
seen half mile behind or before. Hewitt
| md htYf crnt Int
| of worry, excitement, want of breath and
backache. At first. for little, the road
| zig-zagged. and then the chase was COM
| paratively easy. We waited behind one
| then hurried In his trail. treading in the
| busiest parts of the road or on the side
| grass. when there was any, to deaden the
| sound of our steps At the last Of these
| short bends we looked ahead and saw a
| long, white stretch of road with the dark
| form of Wflks couple of hundred yards
In front 1t would never do to let him get
| to the end of this great stretch before fol-
| lowing, as he might turn off at some branch
| road out of sight and be lost So we
| jumped the hedge and scuttled along we
| best might the other side. with backs
bent. and our feet often many inches deep
| in wet clay. We had to make continual
| stoppages to listen and peep out, and on
one occasion. happening, incautiously, to
| stand erect, looking after him, l was much
| startled to see Wilks, with his face toward
| me. gazing down the road l ducked like
| lightning, and, fortunately. he seemed not
! to have observed me- but went on as be-
| fore He had probably heard some slight
| noise, but looked straight along the road
| for its explanation, instead of over the
| hedge. AT hilly parts of the road there was
| extreme difficulty; indeed on approaching
| a rise 1t was usually necessary to lie down
| under the hedge till Wilks had passed the
| top, since from the higher ground he could
| have seen us easily. This improved neither
my clothes, my comfort. nor my temper.
| Luckily we never encountered the difficulty
of long and high wall, but once we We're
nearly betrayed by man who shouted
| to order us off his field.
| At last we saw, just ahead, the square
| tower of an old church. set about with
| thick trees Opposite this Wilks paused.
looked irresoutely up and down the road.
and then went on. We crossed the road.
awaited ourselves Of the opposite hedge, and
| followed. The village was to be seen some
| three or four hundred yards farther along
| the road, and toward 1t Wilks sauntered
| slowly Before he actually reached the
houses he stopped and turned back:
THE churchyard!'' exclaimed Hewitt, I'M
der his breath. Lie close and let MIN
| pass"
| Wilks reached the churchyard gate. and
| again looked irresclutely about him. At
| that moment a party of children, VINO mad
tering and laughing toward and out OF the
| gate. and Wilks walked hastily away again,
this time In the opposite direction
That's the place, clearly, Hewitt SAID.
1
| he's far enough down the road Now:
| We hurried stealthily across, through the
| gate, and into the churchyard, where Hew-
| lit threw his blue spectacles away. 1t was
now nearly eight in the evening. and the
sun was setting. Once again Wilks ap-
preached the gate. and did not enter. be-
| cause laborer passed at the time. Then
| he came back and slipped through.
| The grass about the graves was long. and
| under the trees it was already twilight.
Hewitt and I. two or three yards apart. TO
| avoid falling over one another in case OF
| sudden movement, watched from behind
| erayestones. The form Of Wilks stood out
| large and black against the fading light In
| the west as he stealthily approached
through the long grass. light cart came
gathering along the road, and Wilks
dropped at once and crouched on his knees
| till it had passed. Then, staring warily
| about him, he made straight for the stone
| behind which Hewitt waited.
| II saw Hewitt's dark form swing noise
| lessly round to the other side Of the stone.
| WiIks passed on and dropped on his knee
| beside a large. weather-worn slab that
| rested on brick under structure foot or
SO high. The long grass largely hid the
| NH rod