The Tupelo journal., 1909-06-11
COPYRIGHT. 1907

you DO and is marking IL up IN your
favor; and you won't be the loser,
There Is no question he has a hold on
his associates; but he certainly is
not what l call a genial man"
Only on the day of his departure did
Warnebold, in young Arnold's Ian
guage, loosen up" enough to tell
Arnold and the colonel a vital incident.
The night of the attack a telegram
was sem to Warnebold in Keatcham's
confidential cipher, directing the cam:
paign against Tracy to be pushed
hard, ordering the dumping of some
big blocks of stock on the market and
arranging for their dummy purchasers.
The naming of Atkins as the man in
charge was plausible enough, presum'
ing there had been no knowledge OF
the break in his relations with Keatch'
am. The message was cOuched in
Keatcham's characteristic crisp phrase
ology. But for the receivers knowl-
edge of the break and but for the
previous long-distance conversation, il
had reached its mark. The associates
of Keatcham were puzzled. The hands
were the hands of Esau, but the voice
was the voice of Jacob. There had
been a hurried consultation into which
the second long-distance telephone
from San Francisco broke like a
thunderclap. 1t decided the hearers to
keep to their instructions and disre'
gard the cipher dispatch.
"And didn't you send any answer?'
the colonel asked.
"Oh, certainly; we had an address
given, the Palace hotel. MI. John G.
Makers. We wired Mr.. Makers-in
cipher: Dispatch received. VIII at
tend to it, | signed. And l wired tc
the manager of the hotel to notice the
man who took the dispatch. 1t wasn't
a man, it was a lady"
"A Lady,"
Eyes, she had an order for Mr.
Makers kilograms. Mr.. Makers gave
the order. Mr.. Makers himself only
stopped one night and went away in
the morning and nobody seemed to re
member him particularly; he was a
nondescript sort of party"
But the LADY," The coloneI's mouth
felt dry.
The lady? She was tall, fine figure,
well dressed, dark hair, the telegraph
girl thought, but she didn't pay any
special attention. She had a very
p1aacaut musical yoican
That doesn't seem to be very def
mite" remarked the colonel, with a
crooked smile.
1t didn't look like a clew to Warne'
bold, either; but he was convinced OF
one thing, namely: That it would pay
to watch the ex~-secretary.
and" chuckled he, there's a cheer
full side to the. affair. Atkins is loaded
the guards with short contracts;
and the Midland is booming; if the
rise continues, he can't cover without
losing about all he has. By the way
we got another wire later in the day
demanding what we were about, what
it all meant that we hadn't obeyed in.
structions. Same address for answer
This time we thought we had laid a
nice trap. But you can't reckon on a
hotel; somehow, before we got warn
ing, Mr.. Makers had telephoned for his
dispatch and got it."
Where did he telephone FROM"
From his room in the Palace"
Il thought he had given up his
room?"
HE had. But-somebody telephoned
to the telegraph Office from somewhere
in the hotel and got Mr.. Makers wire
You can get pretty much everything
except a moderate bill out of a hotel
81 see," said the colonel, and i'm
mediately in his heart compared him
self to the immortal blind man." fol
his wits appeared to him to be tramp
ing round futilely in a maze; no near
err the exit than when the tramp began
That night after Warnebold had de
parted, leaving most ELUSIVE thanks
and expressions Of confidence, Winter
was standing at his window absently
looking at the garden family colored
by the moonlight, while his mind was
plying back and forth between half &
dozen contradictions.
He went over the night of the at
tack on Keatcham; he summoned
every look, every motion of Janet
Smith; in one phase of feeling he
cudgeled himself for a wooden foo
who had been absolutely brutal to
defenseless woman who trusted him
he hated himself for the way he would
not see her when she looked TOWARD
him; no wonder at last she stiffened
and now she absolutely avoided him
But, in a swift revulsion against his
own softness, he was instantly laying
on the blows as Justify because of his
incredible, pig-headed credulity. How
absolutely simple the thing was! Sht
cared for this scoundrel of an At
kins who had first betrayed his EN-
ployer and then tried to murder him
Very likely they had been half en-
gagged down there in Virginia; and ht
had crawled out of his engagement;
it would be quite like the cur! Later
he found that just such a distinguished
charming woman, who had family ant
friends, was what he wanted; it woult
be easy enough for him to warm W
his old passion, curse him! Then, hi
had met her and run In a bunch o
plausible lies that had convinced he
that he had been a regular angel il
plain clothes; hadn't done a thing t
Cary or to her. Atkins was such {
smooth devil! Winter could just pic
ture him whining to the girl, putting
his life in her hands and all that rot,
and making all kinds Of a tool of her
-.L- %br uybn1o bn-A ~ ~ ~.