The Idaho Springs siftings-news., 1907-03-30
CHAPTER n.
A Face at Sherry's.

least. had no cares OF business. II
made no difference to me whether the
market rose or fell. Something of the
spirit of adventure that had been my
curse Guickened in my heart as |
walked through crowded Broadway
past Trinity church to a bank and
drew the balance remaining on my
letter of credit. | received in currency
slightly less than $1,000.
AS turned from the tellers window
! ran into the arms of the last man in
the world | expected to see
This, let it be remembered, was in
October CT the year of our Lord nine
teen hundred and one
Don't mention my name an thou
lowest me-" said Laurance Donovan
and he drew me aside. ignored my
hand and otherwise threw into our
meeting casual quality that was
somewhat amazing in view of the fact
that we had met last at Cairo.
Allah il Allah"
1t was undoubtedly Larry. felt the
heat of the desert and heard the camel
drivers cursins and our Sudanese
guides plotting mischief under a win
dow far away.
Well" we both exclaimed interro,
gatiyely.
He rocked gently back and forth,
with hi; hands in his pockets, on the
tile foor of the banking house. ! had
seen him stand thus once on time
when he had eaten nothing in four
days-t was in Abyssilia. and our
guides had lost us in the worst posi-
BILE place-with the same untroubled
look in his eyes.
Please don't appear surprised, or
scared or anything Jack" he said.
with his delicious intonation. Il saw
fellow looking for me an hour or so
ago. He's been at it for several
months; hence my presence on these
shores OF the brave and the free. He's
probably still looking, as he's a per
sistent devil I'm here. as we may
say. quite incog. Staying at an East
Side lodging house. where ! shan't in
vite you to call on NE. But | must see
you"
Dine with me tonight, at Sher-
ry's-'
Too big, too many people
Therein lies security, if you're in
trouble. I'm about to go into exile,
ara | want to eat one more civilized
dinner before | GO
Perhaps it's just as well. Where
are YOU off for,--not Africa again."
NO. Just Indiana.-one of the SOY
ereign American states. as you ought
to know"
"Indians?"
No: warranted all dead"
Pack train-balloon-autom
camels,- how do you get there"
Vanished cars. It's easy. It's not
the getting there: it's the not dying of
ennui after you're on the spot"
''Humph, What hour did you say
for the dinner?'
Seven O'Clock Meet me at the en-
trance"
I'm be there if I'm not in Jail. Kind
ly allow me to precede you, ana don't
follow, please."
He walked away, his eloved hands
clasped lazily behind him. lounaed out
upon Broadway and turned toward the
Battery. | waited until he disap-
peared, then took an uptown car.
My first meeting with I.aurance Don
ovan was in Constantnople, at a caf,-
where was dining. He got into a row
with an Englishman and knocked him
down. 1t was not my affair. but liked
the ease and definiteness with which
Larry put his foe out of commission. |
learned later that it was a way he had.
My friend. the American consul gen
eral at Constantinople, was not with
out sense of humor. and | easily en-
listed him in Larrys behalf. The Eng
lishman thirsted for vengeance and in
voked all the powers. He insisted.
with reason. that Larry was a British
subject and that the American consul
had no right to give him asylum,-a
point that was, l III .erstand thor
oughly weli-grounded in law and fact
Larry maintained, on the other hand.
that he was not English but Irish, and
that, as his country maintained no
representative in Turkey. it was his
privilege to find refuge wherever it
was offered Larry was always the
most plausible of human beings. and
between us,-he, the American consul
and I've made an impression, and
got him OF.
/ did not realize until later that the
real joke lay in the fact that Larry
was English born, and that his devo
tion to ireland was purely sentimental
and quixotic. His family had, to be
sure. come out OF Ireland some time
in the dim past. and settled in Eng
land; but when Larry reached years OF
D knowledge. IL not Of discretion, he cut
Oxford and insisted on taking his de-
gree at Dublin. He even balieved.-or
thought he believed.-in banshees He
allied himself during his university
days with the most radical and turbu-