El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-06-28

promise Of laughter to come with the
I progress Of events
! It was almost dusk when the pair IS.
I sued from the hotel aa4-n. ana FiJt
I hung back and looked up AMI down tht
I street so anXlOusly that I made myself
: conspicuous by crossing the road. Fidt
! lilileulaIelE SmueSled an envelope from
MS pocket and WiEWa=rEpd Il behfuC
l tlm- The fool hadn't sense emo 1e-h Il
/ IS2ye Il at the hotel desk for w. I
I bought a newspaper. passed .Fid5
| brlskly, caught the letter from hin
. against the newspaper. and went or
? ahead of them. still 'shadowinz' them
III Jney turned into a livery stable.
I Inen j stepped into a convenient gro
I Gerry store and read the letter 1t had
l oeen scrubbed on the back Of the en-
EelOpe- corner Of Maple and Chestnut
9 p. m. We drive past Be there. Wont
come 10 hotel"
Burns Makes Purchase.
nat can / do for your the grocer
I blinked at him. What did you sayr'
something for your
Oh consulted the envelope as If it
had been a shopping list yes; she
wants mar a peck OF apples, a quar-
ters worth of Eranulated sugar. a
pound or English breakfast tea and
"a market baSket-Oh, n market bas-
take them with me-
1 saw Fidd and the confederate drive
past " hcn ] came out Of the groceris
door, had the basket on my arm and
my nat on the back of my head. and
i was on my way TO carry my belated
purchases TO house near the corner Of
chestnut street and Maple avenue.
i rugged that basket I'D and down
the side streets till nearly nine. eating
the apples and blessing Fidd. There
was storm cOmllE-One of the worst
storms rememberr-and it settled
down ltnO pitch black night i had
seen that there was a hedge in front
OF the house on Fidd's corner. and
planned to get behind the bushes and
pened.
The Man Under n Tree.
came down chestnut street with
the basket The hedge was there all
right, and so was our man-waiting
under tree, in the shadows from the
street light. / passed him. with the
basket and turned into the third gate
from the corner, and started back
across lots to get in behind him.
There was noisy dog took after me
on the first lawn. and IL got in on my
leg. while L was trying to climb over a
niue picket fence TO the next lawn. and
1 had to beat it off with the market
basket and the blamed cur barked fit
10 raise the dead Some one opened q
door, and / divcd under the hedge and
lay low II 1 had had Fidd there, I'd
have fed him to that dog, limb by
They whtstIed and called to the dog.
and then went into the house again.
/ could see the man on the corner
through a thin place in the bushes He
hadn't paid any attention to the dog
apparently. He was still waiting, lean
ing against the tree.
When he heard wheels coming I'D
the street, he took out what looked
Ike false Whiskers from his pocket
and slipped them under his chin and
drew down his hat The rig pulled
right up In front of US. with Fidd and
me, confederate My man stepped out
ana climbed In and the confederate
gave the horse a cut with the whip.
and before I could get through the
bushes they were off down the road
but, Of course, that was useless There
was nothing to do but go back to the
hotel and wait
Mental Picture Makes Burns Laugh.
The whole affair had been an exas-
peratlnE fiasco, and I waited in the
hotel office" glowering at my news
paper and swallowing my wrath-untu
the thunder storm burst. It came with
a torrent Of rain and a small whirl-
wind. I looked out at the drenched
street swimming In a driven dOWnpOur,
and suddenly I began to laugh. The
oilers In the hotel office turned to stare
and grin at me The proprietor came
over to me smiling expeCtantly.
What's the joker"
I thrust the paper at him Here" I
,huclled: read that I'm going to bed.
Sive me room"
dark, fully dressed except for shoes
lark, fully dresse deNcept for shoes
and coat, chOrtIing at the roar and
fury OF the stOrm-while the men in
the office down stairs were still hunt
ing through the pages Of the newspa-
per for the joke that had prostrateA
ne
You see. 7 had figured out that Fidd's
weren't cOun terfeiters at /
al, but confidence men. They wanted
10 coax Fidd off by himself with his
$3.50. and get il away from him with !
the "greengoods" buncO game. That's
why 1 told him not to bring any n Nuey