The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1911-09-14

Coast sat down. "Wen?" he said.
with the air Of one no longer to be
denied.
Well" said the little man re-
luctantly, IF you must know all
:" Coast received an amused
glance. Il read the papers"
What's that go to do"
$50, when you were kind enough
to tell me your real name, after your
gallant rescue yesterday morning, L
knew at once just who and what you
were"
"ol" said Coast, q thought blankly.
"Just so. 1t never occurred to you
that you were public character. in
q way7 I noticed that And your lack
of self-consciousness interested me.
Also the aroma of mystery you eE-'
hale. intrigued (if / may coin the
world my romantic imagination"
Coast flushed The deuce it did,"
he exclaimed angriIy.
Don't lose your temper-please.
know I sound impertinent, but !
don't mean to be so; it's Just my
tempryment makes me such a eut-up.
/. When walked up before you
did yesterday, I thought 1t all out,
and SEE TO myself. ser I: His biog-
Faphy amt half-written yet, and un-
less I'm mistaken something grievous,
Romance Is a-leadin' of him by the
hand, like a little che-ild. II / can
work It. I'm goin' to stick round and
see what happens next You see, It's
my business to go about nosing into
other peoples"
II see" said Coast CURLY, with a
feeling of contempt which he took no
trouble to disguise.
Yes" assented Appleyard serene
II. T make my living that way.
Government pays me q handsome sal
airy for doing IT,"
What" A light was beginning to
to dawn upon Coast
The little man nodded gravely. The
q. 9. Secret Service" he affirmed.
Let US begin at the beginning, for
clearer understanding" Appleyard
continued. I'm not here for my
health-Pm on the job; and things
have shaped round so that / want
your help temporarily you GER
tainly need mine. That's why I'm let
! ting you In by the basement door and
speaking in stage whispers. You get
me? What I'm telling you Is to be
kept under your hat" \
Certainly; that's understood"
| Right you are. Now, the
| particular phase Of lawless industry
at present engaging my distinguished
professional attention is"-he allowed
himself the dramatic pause-"smug-
Cling. For some time the Treasury
| Department has been aware that a
very considerable quantity of highly
dutiable goods was finding its way
into the country-mainly for the New
York markets-without paying toll
| A syndicate of Maiden Lane jewelers.
has been reaping most of the profit.
j although other goods have been COM
ing through; but that's by the way.
Now the Customs net is fine enough
to assure Us that no such heavy i'm
| portations could have been sneaked
| in through any regular port Of entry.
| All we were certain Of was that 1t
was getting in duty free-though we
couldn't prove even that So
then, was turned loose on the prob
lem, and I've been puzzling over 1t for
/ six months"
He was briefly silent, apparently In
reminiscent mood Early In the
/ game" he resumed, II had cause to
believe that most of the stuff was
seeping In through New England. So
I sat me down and tried to figure 1t
out from the other sides point OF
| view-supposing I wanted to turn
the trick on my own account. Seer"
Clearly. Go on"
Being a product Of this neck o.
the woods made 1t some easier; !
know the coast pretty thoroughly. It
struck me how alfred easy 1t would
be to establish q depot for the re-
ception Of goods on one of these little
islands hereabouts-or even at some
retired point on the mainland. Then
one could ship the stuff over by any
old unlikely tramp, trans-ship it to a
smaller vessel at some agreed point
| on the coast, and stow 1t away for
distribution practically at ones own
convenience. With such a central
station, the stuff could be struggled
to the railroad through any number
of small harbors-a trunkful here. a
trunkful there, all disguised as pas
senger baggage; and these waters are
so thick with small craft that their
comings and goings attract practically
no attention. Plausible. fea-
sible-yes?"
Ingenious, certainly"
ITO cut it short, / finally satisfied
myself that the schooner employed
for the trans-shipment was the fisher
man that, as you saw, preferred my
room to my company. took chance
there, Like fool-lucky to get on
with whole skin But by the time
/ hit the water felt pretty sure they
had some sure-enough good reason
for not wanting any strangers hang
ing round"