Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1920-08-04

The Hawk, Standing In the uooi-
way of the waiting room, ostenta-
tiously consulted timetable which
he drew from his pocket, frowned,
glanced about him, and. finally, ap-
preaching the news-counter, which
appeared for the moment to be NIL
nus an attendant, helped himself to
q newspaper, tossed a copper on top
OF the pile, and appropriated the
nearest seat. The Hawk opened his
paper in front Of him--and over the
top OF the paper inspected with some
interest the view afforded by the
open doorway of the news counter,
which was directly facing him and
but q few feet away. The news coun-
ter was a long. narrow affair, glass
enclosed, with big sliding windows,
making one corner of the waiting
room, and at it's further end boosted
a little office of it's own. The door
of this private domain was closed,
but it, too, was glass panelled, and
the apparent absence of any attend
ant was explained. The Hawk per-
mitted curious smile to flicker
across his lips behind his newspaper.
Inside the little office man,
sprawled forward in a chair. his head
resting on his arms, which We're OUT
flung across the desk In front OF
him, appeared to be sound asleep and
ms .gnificently oblivious to anything
sc grossly material as business.
THE Hawk shifted his glance. this
time for a more critical survey of
the waiting room. He found himself,
strangely enough, quite sheltered
from observation. True, IT was be-
tween trains" and there were very
few people in the room-he had not
ed several women and an elderly
man with little boy. as he had
come In - but these were now
screened from his view by the large,
boxed In posts.i or pillars, that, in the
Iremodeling and enlargement OF the
station some years before. had sought
to combine, evidently, ornamentation
with stability.
The Hawks eyes, under cover OF
his newspaper. reverted to the man
at the desk. The minutes passed
five. ten of them. The mans hours
were long undoubtedly, and usually
there were two in charge of the
news counter, which might perhaps
account for the mans WEAKNESS, and
the profound slumber that was pos
sible even in such an uncomfortable
position! The Hawk turned to the
editorial page of his newspaper.
There were almost two hours before
No. IL was due, and, tho he had q
little business OF a purely personal
and intimate nature to transact be-
fore then, there was time in abund-
anGe and to spare. and 1t might pos
sibly be utilized as prOfitably here as
anywhere else. In any case, there
was usually an editorial diatribe. in.
teresting principally for the virulent
language in which 1t was couched,
anent the Hawk and the Wire Dew.
lis. with whose leadership he, the
Hawk, was universally crediteds The
Hawk smiled thinly. Ii leadership
was vested in the lions portion of
the spoils, then MacVightie. and
Lanson, and the newspapers. and the
public generally were unquestionably
fight-but, since those spoils had
been snatched from under the noses
of the Wire Devils, thanks to his
possession Of their secret code, the
Wire Devils and the Ladybird in par
ticular, that peer of the underworld
who, as he had discovered a few
nights ago, was the moving spirit OF
the gang, held a very different and
even more decided opinion on the
subject!
He folded the paper over, and
>sprawled himself out lazily on his
seat-but If the editorial in question
was on the sheet before him, he did
not see 1t. The man at the desk
raised his head, yawned, stretched
himself. and, as tho YEARLY resum-
ing his work, reached into small
drawer that stood open in the upper
section of the roll-top desk, took out
pad of paper, and began to write.
Still another five minutes passed;
aid then the man tossed his pencil
away from him, and reached out for
the telephone at his elbow. But now
he seemed to hesitate, then evidently
changed his mind. He pushed back
his chair, stood up, tore the sheet Of
paper on which he had been writing
from the pad, replaced the pad in
the drawer, closed the drawer, and,
turning quickly, opened the office
door. He came down the narrow
space behind the news counter itself,
stepped out into the waiting room,
glanced hurriedly about him, and,
breaking suddenly into a run, disap-
peared thru the waiting room door
in the direction of the platform.
The Hawks lassitude seemed sud-
denly to have vanished. In flash
he had covered the few feet of space
that separated his seat from the
doorway of the news counter, and
now, crouched low, hidden by the
counter itself, he darted silently for
the little office, gained it, wrenched
open the drawer of the desk-and
over the Hawks set, tense features
there flickered again that curious
smile. Faint, muffled, but none the
less distinctly. there came from the
interior Of the drawer, which, as he
reached in his hand, he found was
open thru to the wall, the clicking of
a telegraph sounder. But, while he
listened, the Hawk was working with
breathless haste. His fingers closed
on the pad of paper, and tore off the
topmost sheet. Without folding or
crushing the paper, he laid it care
fully inside his vest, buttoned his
vest over it again, closed the drawer
of the desk noiselessly-and in an
other instant was lolling again in
his seat in the waiting room, ap-
parently immersed once more in his
newspaper.
1t had taken the Hawk matter of
less than minute to go and come,