Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1914-09-04
CHAPTER vIII-continued.

Dorcas glanced at the handful of
men covering in a Swallowed corner.
A sudden fear seized her, the feminine
serror of midnight streets.
You don't imagine" she whispered,
that I shall have any trouble? 1t is
possible am making a mistake in the
man. Are there dangerous characters
among them?"
Not exactly dangerous" said the
officer slowly. IF they're dangerous
It's from hunger. It amt once a year
Q find a crook In the bread line. It's
too easy to spot them, waiting Is they
do for an hour or two in that light
THANK you" said the girl. She
erouched behind a half-drawn curtain
In the shadow of the carriage, watch
Ing eagerly the gathering of homeless.
hungry men. They began to creep to-
ward the bakery from every direction.
most of them with O shambling step
that told Of illshod feet or shamed
reluctance to beg for food The skies
had been lowering for hours, and Just
before midnight the first storm of the
winter came down. It began with keen,
tiny needles OF ice, but they stung and
froze, for the wind drove them III
merciless, piercing fiurries. The loi-
tering men crowded together and
turned their faces sullenly from each
furious cloud Of sleet- Hunger was
bitter enough without the storm.
Dorcas watched through misty eyes.
She wondered at the still patience of
the throng. Below her in a basement
a warm red light burned, and through
an open door the wind blew the fra
GRANGE Of boiling coffee across the
street. She saw a man thrust a slim
white-faced boy into a shelter between
the wall and himself.
If l we're starving l couldn't be pa
tient and courteous" she thought.
"The smell of food would madden me.
I would batter a door down
She started suddenly, then for a
moment she scarcely breathed. Down
Tenth street slouched a tall, STOPPING
figure. The man wore a shabby over
coat which covered his body almost
to the feet; its collar was turned high
about his neck and an old SLOUGH hat
Swallowed his face. Dorcas could see
little between but a bristling beard.
The keenest detective searching for
Andrew Merry would not have glanced
twice at the figure; Dorcas' eyes fol-
lowed it with grave perplexity. She
had been startled into recognition the
night before when the man pulled the
shabby hat down over his face. She
caught a glimpse Of Merry's long,
white. slender fingers and noted an
impatient, peculiarly graceful gesture
which wal characteristic of him. Dor
cas- had seer 1t frequently, sometimes
when he was on the stage, sometimes
while he had talked with her.
He paused before facing the glare
Of Broadway and pulled the hat brim
carefully about his face; 1t might have
been for shelter from the singing
blasts of sleet OF for better conceal
ment. Then he seemed to gather him
self together with energy born Of des-
pair. He stepped quickly forward and
took his place at the end Of the bread
line. A hundred men stood between
him and the beneficence of food. 9th
ers were closing in behind him. Here
and there one man turned to speak to
another; the man Dorcas was watch
ing stood immovabie. He thrust his
hands deep in his oyercoat pockets,
his eyes were fixed on the whitening
sidewalk beside him. Dorcas turned
to the opposite window and nodded
with an eager gesture to the officer.
His hand went up. He spoke to the
cabman in a low voice.
Drive round through University
place to Tenth-then up toward
Broadway. Pull up halfway down the
block"
The man turned his horse and
moved down the street.