The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1916-04-22

ming meal without the slightest com
prehension Of what he ate or whether
the food were good or poor.
When he had finished he fed the
place like a haunted man.
Quite without purpose he sought the
machine shop where he had left his
car.
He had no plans; but it was in his
mind, murderous thought. that be-
fore another day dawned he might
come face to face with Bannon-
Meanwhile he would go to work He
could think out his problems while
driving his cab as well as in seclusion;
and whatever he ultimately decided to
! do, he could accomplish little before
midnight; finally. it was quite within
the bounds Of possibility that his car
would prove a valuable asset to what
ever course OF action he might elect to
pursue
Toward seven o'clock. with his ma
chine in perfect running order, he
streets in reckless humor-the temper
of beast Of prey.
The barrier was down-once more
the Lone Wolf was on the proBL
But for the present he controlled
himself and acted perfectly his tenn
porary role of taxi-bandft, fellow to
those thousand that infest Paris. Peo-
! pie hailed him from sidewalks and res
taurants half a dozen times in the
course of the next three hours; he
took them up, carried them to their
| several destinations, received payment
and acknowledged their gratuities with
| perfunctory thanks-an thoroughly in
character and all with little conscious
| thought
, He saw but one thing, the face OF
Lucy Shannon. white, tense, glimmer-
/ ing wanly in shadows-the face with
which she had dismissed him
He had but one thought-the desire
/ to read the riddle of her bondage TIC
accomplish this he was prepared to &c
to any extreme; if Bannon and his
| crew came between him and his pur
pose, so much the worse for them
and, incidentally, so much the better
for society! What might happen tC
himself was of no moment.
He entertained but one design, &c
! become again what he had been, the
supreme adventurer. the prince Of
pIunderers, to lose himself once more
in the suspense of adventurous days
ard the delirium of periIhaunted
nights, to reincarnate the Lone Vol
and in his guise loot the world anew
/ to court oblivion even at the prisons
gates.
1t was after ten when. cruising pur
poselessly, without a fare, he swung
| through the Rue Auber into the Place
de FOpera, and approaching the Cafe
de Ia Paix, was hailed by a doorboy Of
that restaurant.
Drawing in to the curb with the in
difference that had distinguished hi:
every action Of the evening. he waited
| with a throbbing motor and mind de
tached and gaze remote from the tides
of foot and wheeled traffic braWling
past on either hand.
After a moment two figures, bott
masculine, issued from the revolving
door Of the cafe and approached the
cab. Lanyard paid them no attention
In his preoccupation he would have
needed only the repetition of an ad
dress in his ear and the noise of the
cab door slammed to send him on hkG
a shot.
But he received no such order;
there was a pause; then he heard one
of the men cough heavily, and in {:
twinkling Lanyard had stiffened tt
rightly in his seat. If he had heard
that cough but once before. that once
had been too often. Without a glanc'
askance, hardening his features to alb
solute immobility, he knew that thu
cough was shaking the slighter o
those two figures.
And of a sudden he was acute1!
conscious Of the cIearness of tn,