The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1915-08-23

| Griswold walked on until he was
stopped by the sidewalk blocking group
| of freshly arrived travellers paus.
ing to identify their luggage as it
was handed down from the top of the
omnibus. Alertly watchful, he quickly
recognized BrOffin among the porch
loungers, and saw him leave his tilted
chair to saunter toward the steps.
Then the fateful thing happened. One
| OF the luggage sorters, a clean-limbed
handsome young fellow with boyish
eyes and a good-natured grin, wheeled
suddenly and gripped him.
| Why. Griswold, old MAXWELL, I'll
be logged! Who on the face of the
earth would ever have thought of find,
ing you here? So this is where you
came up. after the long, deep, McGinty
| dive, is it," Then to one Of his fel.
low travellers: Hold on a minute,
Johnson; I want you to shake hands
with an old newspaper pal of mine
from New York, Mr.. Kenneth Girls
void. Kenneth, this is Mr.. Beverly
Johnson, Of the Bayou State Security
bank, in New Orleans"
Thus cambridge, sometime star re-
porter for the Louisianian, turning up
at the climaxing instant to prove the
crowded condition of an overnarrow
world, much as Matthew BrOfYin had
once turned up on the afteF-deck Of
the coastwise steamer Adelantado to
prove it to him.
While Griswold. with every nerve
on edge. was acknowledging the in.
PRODUCTION which he could by no
means avoid. Broffin drew nearer.
From the porch steps he could both
see and hear. Bairbridge, cheerfully
loquaci0us continued to do most Of
the talking. He was telling Griswold
OF the streak Of good luck which had
snatched him out of a reporters berth
In the South to make him night editor
OF one of the st. Paul dailies. John
son was merely an onlooker.> Brofiin's
eyes searched the teller's face. Thus
far 1t was blank-a rather bored
blank.
sand you are on your way to St.
Paul now?" Griswold said to the news
paper man. Broffin, whose ears were
skillfully attuned to all the tone varia-
tons In the voice of evasion, thought
ne detected a quaver of anxious i'm
patience in the half-absent query.
yes; l was going on through to-
night, but Johnson, here, stumped me
to stop over. He said might be able
to get news story out Of his sick
president" cambridge ratified on.
Ever meet Mr.. Galbraith? He is the
bank president who was held up last
spring, you remember; fine old Scotch
gentleman of the Walter-Scott brand"
when did you leave New Orleans?"
Griswold asked; and now Broffin made
sure he distinguished the note Of anx-
iety.
1.-TWO days back; missed a connec-
ton on account Of high water in the
Ohio. Might have stayed another 12
hours in the good old levee town If we'd
only known. eh, Johnson" And then
again to Griswold; Remember that
supper we had at Chaudiere's, the
night I was leaving for the banana
coast? BY George! come to think of
1t, believe that was the last time we
foregathered in the Say, Kenneth,
what have you done with your beard?"
Something clicked in Broffin's brain.
The final doubt was cleared away.
Griswold was the man he had seen and
marked when the two were saying
good-by on the banquette in front of
Chaudiere's.
Broffin's right hand went swiftly to
an inside pocket of his coat and when
it was withdrawn a pair of handouts,
oiled to noiselessness, came with it.
Deity the man-catcher worked them
open, using only the fingers of one
hand, and never taking his eyes from
the trio on the sidewalk. One last
step remained; IL he could only man.
age to get speech with Johnson first
During the trying interval Griswold
had been fully alive to his peril He
had seen the swift hand-passing. and
he knew what it was the Broffin was
concealing In the hand which had
made the quick pocket dive. He knew
that the crucial moment had come;
and, as many times before, the saw
age fear-mania was gripping him. In
the cold vise-nip of it he had become
once more the cornered wild beast.
After the introduction to johnson
his hand had gone mechanically to his
coat pocket. The demon at his ear
was whispering kill! kill" and his
fingers sought and found the weapon.
While he was listening with the out
ward ear to Bainbridge's cheerful rem
iniscences. the little minutiae were ar.
ranging themselves; he saw where
Broffin would step, and was careful to
mark that none Of the bystanders
would be In range. He would wait un-
til there could be no possibility of
missing; then he would fire-from the
pocket.
It was johnson who broke the spell. !
While cambridge was insisting that |
Griswold should come in and make a |
social third at the hotel dinner table. /
the teller picked up his handbag and
mounted the steps. Griswold's brain |
fell into halves. With one OF them he |
was making excuses to the newspaper |
man; with the other he saw Brof1n |
stop johnson and draw him. aside.