Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1920-07-06
CHAPTER ".


MacViHhtie instantly.
The Hawk scow1ed at the disturb
ance, az, over their voices, he con-
Osntsatstl his attention upon the
soundsr. He wrote steadily on:
-. lfuwkmuhndtlqgvh. -
Same as usual" Martin replied.
gust L tumble OF letters
wet then, get ready to throw that
4 ground. or whJltever you call it, into
himl" ordered Macvightie tensely.
I'm ready" said Martin.
.All right then--now!"
The Hawk nodded to himself, as his
pencil urflaggingiy noted down letter
aftor letter. The sounder was very
pstceptitIy stronger.
'sW6ut!" Martin cried out. "You
noticed the difference IN strength.
dfdn't yo1a7 He's somewhere between
here and SeIkirk. THAT So
The soiInder had suddenly ceased.
..But hss stopped" said MacVigh-
sti1. and you said II he stopped
That's nothing to do with it.!
Msftin interposed hurriedly. THE
/. wire isn't grounded now"
Hes taken to cover, guess" said
Larson. "T was afraid he would
scare, no matter how" He broke
off abruptly. wait! what's that"
y The so,lnder was clicking again;
but the sharp, quick tattoo was gone.
and in its place. a. tho indeed it
drawled. the sending came In leisure.
ly, deliberate fashion.
The Hawks pencil resumed it's la
vr,fk1, crrf1n
the Hawk scratched out what he had
Just written. It was no longer code
1t was In exceedingly plain English.
Martin was reading directly from
: the sounder:
.Try- that game Jtst--once--
lnprea the division--sOes--.-tir
lin the air and-a--trAin---or -
two maybe -to-a-ptace that -
Mister MacVigbtie- will-Aphne -
day -hon,or- with --his--presence. -
That's -quite-platn --isn't--it7 II
-you-think-this --is a-Abluff~-call
lit. Now-keep-off- -the--wirs --or
have cut. Suit--yoursSlves.'
well, of all the Internal nSrvA!"
exploded Macvightis ftiriousfy.
'.And the worst Of IT," said Lans0n
shortly, els that he's sot III where
he wants us!"
Once more the FOUNDER broke into
the old quick TATTOO. The Hawk was
writing steadily again. There was
silence now between the three In the
office.
"A minute, two. three went blythe
sounder ceased-the Hawk closed his
notebook. Then in its leisurely drawl
+ the sounde,r broke again; and again
Martin read aloud:
Pleasant evening-isn't-it? Ask
Macvightie III he-has seen
anything --of-ths--- Hawk7 Good.
night"
but this thine there was only
menacing finile on Macvightie's lips.
Hes west OF here, you say7" he
shot at Martin.
ves," said Martin E,Jefly.
'.And that splice Of Calhonn's, Ian
son? Where was inat?"
Lanson, drumming with his fingers
on the edeg OF the operators table,
looked up with. 4 frown
sNothing but coincidence" he said
stersely. 'syes, Il was west of here -
{ pretty neal. Selkirk" He moved to-
ward the door. There's nothing
! more we can do here tonight. I'm
going back on No. II. Let's get out
on the platform until she shows up"
The Hawk very carefully replaced
his notebooks. his flashlisht and his
pencil in his pockets, and, as Mac
vightie went out OF the door. he re-
treated softly back to the rear win
dow. The window being up, he quite
AZ noiselessly slipped out over the
SILL He debated q moment about the
window. and decided that If any sig
nificance were attached to the fact
that 1t was found open. Macvightie,
for instance, was fully entitled to
make the most Of the significance!
Then, the. rattle Of wagon sound
ing from the direction of the road,
the Hawk moved along to the end Of
the station, and waited.
The wagon, in the :.s~-s or Its owl,
] smoky oil lamps. proved to be the
town hotel bus. There were evident-
sly other passengers for Selkirk be-
sides himself and the two officials,
as several people alighted from the
bus. In view OF this fact the Hawk
calmly lighted cigaret, tho the
glow Of the match exposed his face
only to the blank wall of the sta
ton, and willked around to the front
of the platform.
He located Macyightie and Lam
son; and. thereafter, at a safe dis
lance, did not lose sight Of them.
MacVightie's memory for faces would
hardly be oyer-rated IL credited with
being able to bridge q matter OF
some twenty-four hours, particularly
as MacVightie had evidenced unusual
interest in the occupant of the room
on the first landing over a certain
ill-favored saloon the night before!
The Hawk, therefore, was unosten-
tatiously attentive to MacVightie's
movements; SO much 80 that, when
No. IT pulled In and Macvightie and
/ Lanson boarded the chair car at the
rear of the train, the Hawk, when No.
! II pulled out, quite logically boarded
the smoking car at the forward end.
The Hawk chose the most uncom-
Portable seat in the car-the rear
seat with stiff, upright unyielding
back, that was built against the wash
room--ard. settling himself down,
produced his notebook and pencil.
The water cooler could be quite con-
fidentially trusted not to peer over
his shouldn't
On the second page Of the note
book-the first having been devoted
to sketch of Bald Creek station
the Hawk, as he had taken it from
the sounder, had written the mes.