The evening world. [volume] (New York, N.Y.) 1887-1931, 1914-05-06

among the smallest yov
Will discover the ship chandlery a,
Hiram T. Pickton,
Under the skylight At the rear
perehed on high stool at the aged
desk. the bookkeeper- clerk-an elder.
iy young man with wise eyes. vbo
spends 30 much time In thinking that
ne can never rise above Hiram,s a .
tablishment-writes slowly and stead :
lily.
And a. he writes. when the weather
II balmy Hiram Pickton himself sits
Just inside the door, smokes his pipe.
permits an occasional Flatbush ten.
ant to steal In and pay rent, and for
the rest Of tho time simply dreams.
Now and then he removes his gold
trimmed spectacles and biinks his mild
old eyes at the tunnels Of the liner
In dock Just across the street a. he
polishes the lenses.
He was. In fact, polishing the lenses
that brilliant morning when he be-
came aware that a man with a black
grip had been standing In front Of tho
establishment and staring At the de-
caying sign for a full three minutes,
People do that sort Of thing very
rarely indeed: 1t even occurred to
Pickton that the stranger might pos
sibly be looking for something In his
line. He replaced the gold trimmed
spectacles hurriedly and hobbied to
his feet: he drew on his infirm old
business smile and peered out.
And then rather an odd thing hap
pened. The stranger looked straight
at Hiram: Hiram looked straight at
the stranger. The stranger took q
step forward; 80 did Hiram. Their
lips were moving. The stranger
cried. with a break in his voice:
Hiram. by ginger! Hiram!"
And Mr.. Pickton. tottering into tho
full sunlight on his cane. took one
last, long look and croaked:
Tit isn't Joelf"
And the strangers bag dropped
with a tremendous thud. and he
gripped both Of Hiram's hands and
wrung them until the old gentleman
bobbed about like leaf in the wind.
They call me Captain Velvet now
adays. HI, butts me! Yep"
u guess you N me are about all
that's left. JOEL" the old gentleman
said soberly. Come on inside and
have chair"
When the clerk had returned from
hia physical culture lunch on the next
block they were talking about an era
which. after the first stretch OF listen
hg. did not interest the clerk.
1--WE been poking around" the cap
tain said at last, trying to buy some
kind of ship for a friend Of NINE"
Get oneT'
Yes, sir. I bought the Glory b."
said the captain, with some sstisfac-
ton.
odd tramp?"
"She used to carry freight and
some passengers. they tell me-"
'Whatd you pay, Joer asked
Mr.. Pickton.
Fifty thousand dollars"
Mr.. Pickton cackled derisively.
Guess you're not familiar with the
New York junk market" he said.
"She amt worth II by the ton. by no
means"
II bought her by the lump. Ill.,"
the captain said mildly. she runs"
I'D never "a believed it," said the
friend OF his boyhood "She used to
run up and down the coast; I haven't
seen her for years. / s'posed she'd
been broke up long before this"
she was the best could do for
the price. outside o. one old tops'l
schooner that ought to been scuttled
some acerbity. "Shs clears for Santa
Chanza tomorrow, anyway, and I've
got her crew on board this minute"
On the corner rickety yellow
automobile had halted. over the
wheel sad-eyed. rather soiled
young man gazed moodily along the
dock and across the river--the Snake,
In fact. BY his side sat another worn
young man. who shook his head and
the gaze. and who was. 1t
must be confessed, Robert Pollard,
with the smile erased.
Evangeline's life jaunt after the
elusive Gabriel could teach nothing to
these two after the week they had
passed, either in tho way OF general
or the growing aptitude
Tor lodging around corners In pur-
suit OF false clues, They had awak-
ened. that dread day a week ago,
TO find that the hotel desired some
forty-two OF their SOL
SO that while car fares held steady
NJ nickel each and the Spanish
Grute's cousin could and would steal
oil and gasoline from the garage
which employed him. they had rented
4 wretched furnished room and hunt
I'd by automobile.
And now. with the week gone. II
\ as only plain that Capt. Velvet had
vanished from the face OF the earth:
and the Snake was asking wearlly:
What are we doing down here?"
Pollard frightened with an effort.
IT'S The only part OF town we
haven't covered twice, Snake" he
'aid gently. "I'll Just take a little
walk around, I've got a feeling in
ny bones that we haven't seen the Last
u him." POLLARD persisted.
He stepped down and looked
round. Into his nostrils foated.
antly, the one odor he could never
orget--the scent OF one of Can't. Vel
els cigars From the doorway OF {
little, dirty shop, two houses down, 6
thin curl OF smoke noated lightly. "
He dived forward and thrust his
r'stocratic nose into it--and he s
lutched his heart. :o- II was the I
anne, same smoke. 7
And then. with every faculty 4
lngling. Pollard pretended TO looI