The Holly chieftain., 1914-10-02
CHAPTER ~.
A Frank Admissi on.

A Frank Admission.
Hoiton's acquisitions were promptly
attended to. and by the time he had
completed his packing at the club his
tickets for the Florida Special had ar
rived
He lunchsd with Billy Holt of the
ordnance department. and then took q
hack to the station, where he found
the train made up. He had several
magazines in his hands, and settled
down to read with his feet luXuriously
resting on the other seat of his sec
'iion.
1t was not many minutes. however
Before he yawned broadly, and five
minutes thereafter his magazine had
tumb,ed from his hand and he was fast
asieep.
As he fell into slumber two men
approached the porter. and, throwing
OPEN their coats. displayed Secret
Service shields.
While their English was perfect,
they were surely of the Latin race.
"Ya-as. suh-all right. gen'lmen."
Tho porter was very much impressed.
"Ya-as, sub, go right along"
"As they approached Holton's sec
Hion one of them stopped.
well. here he is," he remarked
"Yes. and asleep. too. He's bound
for Tampa for surety
Yes: but. now that he kindly sleeps.
we might as well go farther" He
bent down and carefully drew Holton's
bag out into the aisle. Quick" he
said, looking up, "the keys"
His companion drew from his
pocket a large bunch of keys, and the
man tried several without success
Finally. becoming impatient, he drew
the bag to the seat behind Holton,
aud. drawing his knife. cut long hole
naar the top. Then, inserting his
hand and arm, he fished about for
several minutes, but without feeling
anything other than wearing apparel
and toilet articles.
Finally he Strengthened up and
pushed the bag into the place whence
1t had been withdrawn with the frown-
lng remark:
We'll. We'll have to let him go;
we've done our part"
The two men spent some time in the
station, framing a telegram in cipher,
which, when completed, was sent to
Tampa. Then they disappeared
Holton in the meantime slept, and
was still asleep when the train moved
out. Awakened by sudden turn of
tho cars. he started bolt upright and
looked about him with only vague
idea as to where he was. When he
came to realizing sense of his stu
alton he looked at his watch, and then
tried to resume his nap. But this
time he did not fall asleep, and SO,
after tidgeting about for half an hour,
he decided TO go Into the smoker.
He had some very excellent cigars
in his grip. and, pulling out the bag,
he leaned down to unlock it. when he
saw the long hole which had been
cut in the shining pigskin.
He regarded the damage for a sec.
ond with rising anger. and then un.
locked the valise and searched 1t thor
oughly to see what had been stolen
For his only idea was that some sneak
thieves had taken advantage OF his
-siumber
But, finding everything intact, he
was obliged to cast about for another
explanation. 1t was then that the
thought of spies occurred to him
Thus thinking. he rose from his seat
and looked searchlngly over the oc.
y cupants Of his car.
Almost the first person his eyes
lighted upon was girl in the section
diagonally opposite him. One glance
at her profile was sufficient to send
Holton stumbling and gasping back
into his seat.
The girl was Miss La Tossa.
He thought for moment. Oh. to
be sure. he had risen to find out who
sad ma,treated his bag. Then
Good Heavens! Holton's hands few
70 his head after the most approved