Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1917-08-04
Copyright, The Bobbs-MerriIl Co.,
CHAPTER III.
Billy Capper at Play.

Billy Capper at Play.
The night of July 26. The scene IL
the table-cluttered sidewalk before
n Cafe Pytheas. where the ours
st. Louis filings its night tide of idleIs
into the broader stream Of the Came
oiere. Marseiles' Broadway-the
white street OF the great Provencal
port. Here at the crossing Of the>e
TWO streets summer nights are incl
dents to stick in the travellers mind
long after he sees the gray walls of
the Chateau diff fade below the
steamers rail. The flower girls In
their little pulpits pressing dewy pio-
lets and fragrant clusters of rosebuds
upon the strollers with persuasive
cd Moors who see everything as they
pass, yet seem to see so little; jostling
creeks, Levantines, burnoosed Jews
from Algters and re~d-trousered Sene-
galese-an the color from the hot
lands Of the Mediterranean is there.
But on the night of July 20 the old
spirit OF Incidence. of pleasure seek
Ing, filtration. intriguing. which was
wont to make this heart Of arc-light
me IN Marseilles pulse la~nguorously,
was gone Instead, an electric tense
ness was abroad, pervading. infectious,
About each sidewalk table heads were
clustered close In conference, and elo-
quent hands aided explosive
ment. Around the news kiosk at the
ar Pytheas corner a constant stream
eddied. Men snatched papers from
the pile, spread them before their
faces, and blundered into their fellow
pedestrians as they walked. buried in
the inky columns. Now and again
half-naked urchins came charging
down the Cannebiere, waving shin
plaster extras above their heads-'L'
Allemagne s'arme! La guerre WENT"
Up from the Quai marched a dozen
sailors from a torpedo boat, arms
linked so that they almost spanned
the Cannebiere. Their red-tasseled
caps were pushed back at cocky
angles on their black heads. and as
they marched they shouted in time:
"A Berlin! Hou-hou!"
For Captain woodhouse, Just In
from Berlin that evening, all this
swirling excitement lac but an Incl
dental interest. He sat alone by one
Of the little iron tables before the
Cafe Pytheas, slipping his Doc, and
from time to time his eyes carelessly
followed the eddying of the swarm
about the news kiosk. Always his at
tention would come back, however, to
center on the thin shoulders Of a
man sitting fifteen or twenty feet
away with a wine cooler by his side.
He could not see the face of the wine
dr1nker; he did not want to. All he
cared to do was to keep those thin
shoulders always in sight. Each time
the solicitous waiter renewed the bot
tie in the wine cooler Captain Wood
house nodded grimly, as a doctor
might when he recognized the symp-
toms OF advancing fever in a patient.
SO for two days. from Berlin across
to Paris. and now on the third day
here in the Mediterranean port, Wood
GUS a kept ever in sight those
thin shoulders and that trembling
hand beyond the constantly creeking
elbow. MOI a pleasant task: he had
come to loathe and abominate the
very wrinkles in the back of that shiny
coat. But a very necessary duty It
was for Captain woodhouse to shadow
Mr.. Billy Capper until-the right mo-
ment should arrive. They had come
down or the same express together
from Paris. Woodhouse had observed
Capper when he checked his baggage,
q single shoddy handbag, for La
Vendee, the French line ship sailing
with the dawn next morning for Alex
per had squared his account at the
Hotel Allees de Meilhan, for the most
part a bill for absinth frappes. after
dinner that night, and was now en-
joying the night life of Marseilles in
anticipation, evidently, Of carrying d.
rect to the steamer With him as his
farewell from France all Of the bot
tled laughter of her peasant girls he
could accommodate.
The harsh memories of how he had
been forced to drink the bitter lees of
poverty during the lean months rode
Billy Capper hard, and this night he
wanted to fill all the starved chambers
of his soul with the robust music of
the grape. So he drank with a pur-
pose and purposefully. That he drank
alone was a matter of choice with
capper; he could have had a pair Of
dark eyes to CLINT over a goblet into
his had he wished-indeed, opportuni-
ties almost amounted to embarrass-
ment. But to all advances from the
fair, Billy Capper returned merely an
1mpolite leer. He knew from before
time that he was his one best COM
panion when the wine began to warm
him. So he squared himself to his
pleasure with an abandoned rakish-
ness expressed in the set of his thin
shoulders and the forward droop of
his head.
woodhouse, who watched, noted
only n popularity in Capper's con-
duct: The drinker nursed his stick,
a. plain, crook-handled malacca, with
d lciluSIuSSS dlIIlOSC maternal. IL
never left his hands. Once when
Capper dropped 1t and the waiter
made to prop the stick against a
by chair. the little spy leaped to his
feet and snatched the cane away with
a growl. Thereafter he propped his
chin on the handle, only removing
this guard when he had to tip his
head back for another draft of cham
payne.
Eleven o'clock came. Capper rose
from the table and looked owlishly
about him. Woodhouse quickly
turned his back to the man. and was
absorbed in the passing strollers.
When he looked back again Capper
was slowly and a little u~nsteadily
making his way around the corner
into the cannebiere. Woodhouse fol-
dilatory exploration of the various
cafes along the white street: his gem
eral course was toward the city's
slums about the Quai. Woodhouse,
dawdling about tree boxes and dodg-
ing into shadows by back doorways,
found his quarry easy to trail. And
he knew hat each of Capper's So
length Of the pursuit. The time for
him to act drew appreciably nearer
with every tipping Of that restless ell
bow.
Midnight. found them down in the
ree and weller of the dives and
sailors frolic grounds. Now the
trailer found his task more difficult,
inasmuch as not only his quarry, but
he himself was marked by the
wolves. Dances in smoke-wreathedl
rooms slackened when Capper lurched
in, found q seat and ordered a drink.
Women with cheeks carmined like
peoples wanted t o make predatory
love to him: dock rats drew aside and