Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1920-11-04
The
Substitute
Millionaire
BY
HUBERT FOOTNER
HUBERT FOOTNER

The men who had hold of Jack
became uncertain. and finally let go.
Jack elboWed his way out, and none
sought to stop him now. The crowd
dissolved. The whole incident had
occupied less than two minutes. but
that was long enough to do the mis-
chief. The packet presumably had
been handed over, and both messen-
ger and principal swallowed up.
Jack FASTENED over the remaining
distance to the corner of Forty-Sec-
ond street. Neither the sallow youth
nor the old gentleman with the inn
perial was visible of course. Jack
hesitated at loss which way to
turn. There was chance that the
old man, having received the money,
had turned westward and SO might
be intercepted by Connolly, but it
was a faint one.
While Jack stood there the traffic
officer at the important crossing
gave the signal for the east and
west bound traffic to cross, and a
double line of cars darted across
L
of those bound east Jack saw the
long black limousine that had been
SO often described to him.
AS it flashed by he had a glimpse
/ of a lilk- hated head with gray hair
brushed forward of the ears, ruddy
complexion, gray moustache and i'm
perial. Alongside was the rusty
back bonnet and the brown wig. The
mans head was down, and his atti-
tude suggested he was counting
in his lap. The woman's glance fol-
lowed his.
1t was Jacks first glimpse of his
quarry, and his hunting instinct was
spurred to action. He made a zig
gag dash across the street under the
very wheels of motors and trolley
cars. The black limousine was out
Of his reach, but by great good luck
he found taxicab standing by the
curb with its engine running.
He flung himself in, crying: Four
times your fare If you can keep that
car in sight. A hundred dollars If
am able to arrest the couple in it!'
/ The taxi leaped ahead. Jack low
cred the front window, and leaning
forward, pointed out the right car to
the chauffeur In wild squirt down
Forty Second street they gained half
q block on the Limousine. They just
managed to get across Sixth avenue
before the whistle blew. At Fifth
the whole line was held up for per-
haps half a minute. The press was
i
the black car, but he had carefully
marked its position, about six cars
ahead.
/ When the whistIeblew for the east
and west traffic to resume they saw
it turn down Fifth with burst of
! speed. They followed. In and out of
the close traffic the big car thread
ed it's way with a wonderful exhibi-
| ton Of sang-froid on the part of the
chauffeur. Jack had good chauf-
feur too. But race thru such q
crowd is purely matter of luck.
They never succeeded in getting
within less than five car lengths Of
their prize. Jack saw that the black
car now bore a Georgia license. He
made note of the number.
At Thirty Fourth street the line
was held up again. The whistle had
just blown, and this promised to be
a longer stoppage. Jack jumped out
Of the taxi, and ran ahead down the
line with fast beating heart.
The black Limousine was empty.
Jack gritted his teeth. 1.-THE devils
own luck favors him." he thought.
''They must have leftSthe car during
the block on Forty Second"
The chauffeur had not seen him.
Jack did not approach him, thinking
it better to take a chance of follow
ing him to his garage. The line got
| in motion again, and Jack swung
himself aboard his taxi as it passed.
At Twenty Eighth street the
whistle blew just as the black car
was crossing. It continued blithely
down the avenue, the chauffeur wag-
Cling o derisiye hand outside his car.
Jack would have risked defying the
| whistle, but his way was effectually
blocked by other cars in front and
on both sides.
"My luck again." he groaned
They We're held up there while a
ten-horse truck bearing a. steel girder
crawled across the avenue. When
the whistle gave them leave to move
again, the limousine had disappeared
| into a side street They saw it no
more.
Jack had the license number, but
an investigation instituted by tele-
4 graph only proved as he expected
that that number had been issued to
some one giving a mythical address
in Atlanta. AS for notifying the
New York police, he knew very well
that within half an hour the license
tags on the black limousine would
be changed.
CHAPTER XXIV.
The most indomitable spirits have
their dark hours and this was Jacks.
He returned to the Madagascar feel
ing that he had come to the end of
his resources. 1t was hard to bear
with the commiseration of the hotel
detective and clerk on his failure;
and he was in no mood to put up
with Bobos selfish complaints.
Bobo's reasoning powers, as has
been seen, were of a primitive SIM
plicity. Like a child or a savage he
was always under the complete sway
OF the feeling Of the moment. Just
now he was, or thought he was,
broken hearted over the loss of Mir
lam. Forgetting that he had given
her up of his own free will, and for
good cause he blamed Jack for all
his present misery.
did you get him." he asked when
! Jack came in.