The Miller press. [volume] (Miller, S.D.) 190?-current, 1910-12-22

~A
were cooked and, what's more. they
were eaten; there was one Of this
here one day and gone the next bust.
ness"
Nonsense" I observed. You're
tired, that's all, Mrs. Klopton. And
l wish you would go out; / want to
battle"
That's not all" she said with dig
nifty, from the doorway. Women
coming and going here, whose
shoes | am not fiji mean, women
who are not fit to touch my shoes
coming here as insolent as you please.
and asking for you"
Good heavens!"I exclaimed. What
did you tell them-her, whichever it
was?"
Told her you were sick in a hos
pital and wouldn't be out for a year,"
she said triumphantly. And when
she said she thought she'd come in
and wait for you, l slammed the door
on her."
What time was she here?"
Late last night. And she had a
l~ight-haired man across the street. If
she thought / didn't see him she don't
know me-" Then she closed the door
and left me to my bath and my re-
Elections.
At five minutes before eight I was
at the Incubator, where I found Hotch-
kiss and Mcknight. They were bend
ing over a table, on which lay Nc
Knights total armament-a pair of
pistols, an elephant gun and an old
cavalry saber.
Draw up a chair and help yourself
to pie" he said, pointing to the
( arsenal. This is for the benefit of
our friend Hotchkiss here, who says
he is small and fond of life"
Hotchkiss, who had been trying to
get the wrong end of a cartridge into
the barrel of n of the ~revolvers,
Strengthened himself and mopped his
face.
I'VE have desperate people to han.
die" he said pompously, land we may
need desperate means"
"Hotchkiss is like the small boy
whose M ambition was to have peo-
pie grow ashen and tremble at the
mention of his name," Mcknight jibed.
But they were serious enough, both
of them, under it all, and when they
had told me what they planned, l was
serious, too.
You're compromising a felony" l
demonstrated, when they had explain
ed. Pm not eager to be locked
away, but, by JoveJ to offer her the
stolen notes in exchange for Sulli-
van!"
I'VE haven't got either of them, you
know" Mcknight demonstrated, land
we won't have, If we don't start. Come
along, Ffdo." to Hotchkiss.
The plan was simplicity itself. Ac.
cording to Hotchkiss, Sullivan was to
meet Bronson at Mrs. Conway's apart.
ment at $3.50 that night with the notes,
He was to be paid there and the pa
pers destroyed. But just before that
interesting finale" Mcknight ended,
I'VE will walk in, take the notes, grab
Sullivan, and give the police a jolt
that will put them out of the count
/ suppose not one OF us, Slowing
around in the machine that
night, had the faintest doubt that we
were on the right track, or that Fate
scurvy enough before, was playing
into our hands at last. Little Hotch
kiss was in a state of fever; he al
~ternately twitched and examined the
revolver, and a fear that the two mo
ments might be synchronous kept mt
uneasy. He produced and dilated OF
the scrap of pillow slip from the
wreck, and showed me the stiletto
; with its point in cotton batting TO
7 safekeeping. And in the intervals
he implored Richey not to make sucl
fine calculations at the corners.
We were all grave enough aud yer.
quiet, however, when we reached thu
large building where Mrs. Conwa!
had her apartment. Mcknight lief
2 the power. on, in case we might wan
to make a quick getaway, and Hotch
r kiss gave a final look at the revolver
had no weapon. Somehow it al
seemed melodramatic to the verg'
of farce. In the doorway Hotchkis
t was a half dozen feet ahead; Richie.
fell back beside me. He dropped hi
affectation of gayety, and | thought h
e looked tired. Same old Sam, l SUI
poser" he asked.
Same, only more of him."
a II suppose Alison was there? HOY
a is she?" he inquired i~rrelevantly.
Very we'll. ! did not see her thi
morning" Hotchkiss was waiting nea
! the elevator. Mcknight put his hand o
my arm. Nov, look here, old man,
g he said, "Tve got two arms and a RI
d volver, and you've got one arm an
a splint. If Hotchkiss Is right, an
q there is a row, you crawl under
table"
The deuce / wilt" l declared scorl
IN CTO RE CONTINIrEDN