The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1914-08-27

UVSu vi LuybclL SOuueJlL1eS.
Conversation dropped entirely after this
declaration.
YOU'RE a ~taciturn sort of chap"
cam II"
"You are. But an agreement is an agree
ment, and while I'd like to print this story.
I'll not. We newspaper men seldom break
our word"
Jones held out his hand.
"Sometimes I wish I'd started life right"
said the reporter gloomily. "a newspaper
man is generally improvident. He never looks
ahead for tomorrow. What with my special
articles to the magazines, 1 earn between
four and five thousand the year and I've
never been able to save a cent"
perhaps you've never really tried replied
Jones, with a glance at his companion. 1t
was a good face, strong in outline; a little
careworn, perhaps, but free from any indica-
tons of dissipation. "If I had begun life as
you did, I'd have made real and solid use of
the great men I met. I'd have made fnan-
ciers help me to invest my earnings, or saw
ings, little as they might be. And today I'd
be living on the income"
You never can tell. Perhaps a woman
might have made you think of those things;
but if you had remained unattached up to 81,
as I have, the thought of saving might never
have entered your head. A man in my pres
ent condition, financially, has no right to
think of m~atrimony."
cit might be the saving of you if you met
and married the right woman"
the right woman might be heiress to
millions. And a poor devil like me could not
marry q girl with money and hang onto his
self-respect."
True. But there are always exceptions
to all rules in life, except those regarding
health. A healthy man Is a normal man, and
a normal man has no right to remain single.
You proved yourself a man this afternoon,
considering that you did not know l occupied
the wheel seat. Come to think it over, you
really saved the day. You gave me the OPP
p~ortunity of steering straight for the police
station. Well, good-by."
"Queer duck! " unused the reporter as, after
telephoning, he headed for his Office. Queer
duck, indeed! What a game it was going to
be! And this man Jones was playing it like a
master. 1t did not matter that some one
else laid down the rules it was the way in
which they were interpreted.
Braine heard of the failure. The Black
HUO6rnd UaS TnIiDo ig S%ooly for holo-, 49,
value. -Four valuable men locked up in the
Tombs, awaiting trial, to say nothing of the
seven gunner gathered in at the old ware
house. Braine began to- suspect that his
failures were less due to chance than to cal
%culation, that at last he had encountered a
mind which anticipated his every move. He
would have recognized this fact earlier had
it not been that revenge had temporarily
blinded him. The spirit of revenge never
makes for mental clarity.
There was a meeting that night of the
Black Hundred. Four men were told off, and
they drew their chairs up to Vroon's table
for instructions. Braine sat at Vroon's elbow.
These four men composed the most dangerous
quartet in New York City. They were as
daring as they were desperate. They were
the men who held up bani1 messengers and got
away with thousands. They had learned to
swoop down upon their victims as the hawk
swoops down upon the heron. The news
papers referred to them as the auto BAN
dts" and the men took a deal Of pride in
the furore they had created.
Vroon went over the Hargreave case mi
nutely; he left no detail unexplained. Blunt
ly and frankly, the daughter of Stanley Har-
greave must be caught and turned over to the
care of the Black Hundred. 1t must be quick
action. -Four valuable members were in the
Tombs. They might or might not weaken
under police pressure. For the first time in
its American career the organization stood
facing actual peril and its one possible
chance of salvation lay in the fact that no
ones face was known to his n~eighbor. He,
Vroon, and the boss alone knew who and
what each man was. But the plans, the rami-
~ications of the organization might become
public property and that would mean an end
to al exceedingly profitable business. =
The daughter of Hargreave rode horseback
early every morning. She sought the country
road. She was invariably attended by the
riding master of a school near by.
"You four will make your own plans"
If she should be injured?"
"Avoid 1t, if possible"
eve have a free hand?"
Absolutely"
eve risk a bad fall from her horse If it's
a spirited one"
Pretend a breakdown In the road" inter-
polated Braine. cas- they approach, draw
T., and order fham m d;snaonnf That roo%boJ