Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1920-08-05

lips, polished the bowl by rubbing 1t
along the side OF his nose, and in
spected the result critically. And
then the Hawk smiled pleasantly to
himself. In none of the messages
had the Wire Devils given the slight
est evidence OF any knowledge of
fact that was very near to his. the
Hawks heart. It was quite possible,
even probable, that on one point, at
least. Lanson and MacVightie were
right--that the Wire Devils were ig-
norant OF the presence of that forty
thousand dollars in bilIs--but even
supposing that they did know, they
would scarcely give him, the Hawk,
knowledge as well. Therefore, Bit
ter as was the feud between them.
the Ladybird would be almost GER
tain to ignore his, the Hawks exist
ence in SO far as this nights work
was concerned. The Hawks smile
broadened.. 1t was quite true, single
handed he would have no excuse on
earth for attempting the impossible
feat OF carrying away a half million
In Eold--but forty thousand dollars
In bank notes was not as prohibitory
in Its weight! His problem, there
fore, simplified itself into an init
mate investigation Of No. ISIS bag
gage car before Echo Rock was
reached, and before either Mac
vightie's posse, or the Butcher and
his ungentle crowd in the cars be-
hind. should have started anything
ON their own account.
yes" said the Hawk confidential
ly to Sthe toe Of mis- boot, ives,
guess I'll sit in for q hand In the
game myself; yes. / guess it looks
pretty good--if the luck holds
The Hawk relapsed into silence,
still studying the toe OF his boot. His
last remark seemed suddenly to have
obsessed him, and he frowned. If the
luck still held! 1t wasn't altogether
luck-indeed, it was far from luck.
The Ladybird. and, for that matter,
a half dozen others of the Wire Dew
be lightly reckoned with. He had no
decisions on that score! Since the
day he had begun to trespass on the
Wire Devils preserves, listening when
and where he could, he had inter-
cepted enough of their cipher mes
sages az they came over the wires
to enable him to pull from the fire
and pocket for himself the chestnuts
they had been 30 carefully roasting
for themselves, to turn In fact the
entire labor and effort of their or
ganixAtion to his own account--and
in their turn they had sought by
every means within their power to
trap him. And they had nearly
caught him, very nearly caught him
once, and he had realized that the
haphazard method IL which. not
knowing their source, he had been
able to obtain the cipher messages
would no longer do. 1t was thru
those messages alone that he could
hope to get a hint OF, and thereby
forestall, the next trap they might
set for him. And then the way had
seemed to clear little when he had
at last discovered that source in the
old farm house near Conmore, and
had discovered that the Ladybird,
thought dead and mourned by the
underworld as one Of it's greatest,
from a wheel chair now, manned
thing in all save brain. moved and
guided what Macyightie had been
pleased to call the most powerful
and dangerous criminal organization
that had ever known existence. Only
on the night that he. the Hawk, had
made those discoveries he had been
That was week ago.
For three days, not daring to let it
be known that wounded man was
in the house, he had remained here
in his room. nursing his hurt as best
wound, and those three days were all
he, had allowed himself to remain
inactive; for In those three days,
temporarily blindfolded as to any
move against him that the Ladybird
might make, he had lived like o
hunted man, wary of every passing
moment, OF every sound without his
door, his automatic never for an, in
slant out OF reach. After that. dur
ing the past four nights, he had re-
sumed his vigil at the farmhouse
again.
The Hawk smiled srimlS. No, he
labored under no decisions as to the
craft, the cunning, and the power of
those against whom he had elected
to play a lone hand! The four nights
just past had resulted In something
more than the mere accumulation Of
those code messages he had just
read, In something besides more
intimate mountaineering with the
farm house and It's surroundings,