Charlevoix county herald. (East Jordan, Mich.) 189?-1953, 1918-09-20

a twitching of pallid lips, bits of hu.
man fiotsam cast into this backwatez
OF world-old life.
And withal it was strangely without
sound. Unlike an American crowd, its
people moved with few words, little
cutlery, spoke in low singsong, which
carried little beyond the speaker. The
squeak of fiddle as we passed door
way was noise in that place. And l
do not remember that we spoke to any
extent as we moved.
In fact, 1t all came to seem like the
strange phantasmagoria of dream to
me as we followed McKabe's shuffling
lead. The lights, the crowds, the
weird changing, shifting life, the
damp kiss of the fog, the odd pungent
odors, the cool night wind tanning my
face took on the unreality of a sub
conscious rather than of an objective
something, so that / turned my head
and picked up Sheldon and Reich, Lu-
cile Foote and Semi Dual, and lastly
McKabe, in order to break from the
spell which had gripped me and fore
ed me into a waking dream.
And so / noticed Dual. He was
walking straight forward in the wake
of our guide, and / saw that Lucille, at
his side, was gazing up at his face
with an almost puzzled expression on
her own. Semi was walking straight
onward, with his face to the front,
and on his features was the look of
dog when it dreams of the chase.
/ don't know how else to describe
the expression. His clean features
had grown tense, acquisitive, with
set as of one seeking a thing elusive,
His nostrils swelled slightly, and
could it be said of a man, / would
have sworn his ears were pricked.
would have said that he was listening
with all his being for a something so
family perceptive as to be almost be-
yond the range of perception.
Yet l was not surprised. Perhaps 1t
was the odd mood into which /, my
SELF had fallen, but it seemed to me
that l understood. 1t came to me in
that moment that in the same way he
had sensed Sheldon's call on the plat
form at Salida so now Semi Dual
was seeking to pick up some subtle
thread of leading which should bring
us to the object of our search.
AS if to prove me right he spoke:
wait, Mr.. McKabe. We have come
too far"
The little guide stopped in sur
prise.
What do you mean?" he inquired.
"Too far for what? Do you know this
district"
Dual shook his head and smiled
slightly.
mo. l have never been here"
Then as We all gathered closely
about him he went on:
ut is my opinion that the party we
seek would most likely frequent some
restaurant in this section, if she came
out of quarters tonight. Presenting
that she would wish to meet some con-
federate or a dealer. or an agent, she
would in all likelihood appoint meet
ing in some such place. l would ad-
wise that We visit some resort of that
nature"
McKabe nodded slowly. He had
been eying Dual with fresh interest
since Semi's interruption of our
course. Now he spoke:
Maybe it wouldn't be a bad notion.
I've run onto more'n one party l was
after in such places as that. I was
thinkin' of something the same my
self, an l thought we'd go to the last
in the line an work back. Shall we go
on?"
Dual shook his head.
mot on-but back. AS I said, we
have come too far"
TOO far?" McKabe seemed a bit
puzzled. How do you know we've
come too far?"
LET us go back and prove it." said
Semi. There is no time to ex-
plain"
McKabe frowned slightly and took
the back track.
Il guess it's your case," he num-
bled, an l hope you know what
you're doing. I don't"
We retraced our steps and once
more / noticed the odd trailing ex-
preston settled over Duals features.
Lucille glanced back at me as in ques-
ton, and I nodded to her without
words.
We walked on. Behind us I heard
Reich speaking to Colonel Mac. Dual
spoke again:
stop! This is the place."
We had come to the front of the
building where many lanterns of a
great size swayed in the breeze from
a balcony lined with flowers, above a
doorway painted red and lettered with
ideographs of gilt.
McKabe stopped.
This joint?" he asked. "Well all
right. This is the SWEETEST place In the
town. All the big men give their par
ties and banquets here. For a man
who's never been here before you're
a good picker, Mr.. Dual"
He grinned slightly and turned to-
ward the door of the place.
I started to follow after Lucille and
Semi. Reich and Sheldon were behind
me and Homer burst out into Obiec-