The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1921-06-17
CHAPTER ".
Become a Well-known Thief


The sudden, unanticipated attack,
the burst of dazzling light in my eyes,
rendered me for the moment utterly
helpless. 1 was blinded, and SO tightly
grasped at the throat as to be nearly
s%trangled. l only dimly realized that
my asSailant was a man, his grip that
Of a giant. Then, to my surprise, the
fellow laughed oddly, swapping out hi,
light, and releasing his grip.
well, if this don't beat ILL.," he
said, in the tone Of cheerful disgust.
Come in here and let ME icok you
over
His hand closed on the sleeve OF my
coat, and before l scarcely found time
to catch my breath again l had been
dragged through a narrow opening and
became aware thai a door shut silent
iy behind me.
The fellow gave me little opportuni-
ty to either act, or think. A match
flared, and was held aloft to a gas jet
which instantly broke into a dull flame,
sufficient to render visible the full ex-
tent of the small room in which we
i otoOu. Ill Jill OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES way L
was aware OF bare walls, of a small
table opposite with some writing ma
terials on it, and a short bench covered
by a blanket. / suppose ! saw these
things, yet all that l seemed to per-
ceive was the man fronting me, who
stared in my face, a quizZical smile en-
his lips, as though still half uncertain
| nf tho reality nf ny rncnnan Ilo Vxync
tall. a trifie angular, but exceedingly
well-dressed, with closely trimmed
iron-gray beard and peculiar eyes
deeply set in a rather chalky face. He
broke the silence, evidently inclined to
look upon this meeting az a joke.
Don't recognize me, l reckon? Well,
that amt to be wondered at, for likely
enough you never saw me before;
Beats the devil though why You
should drift in here; now I suppose it
will have to be ffsty-fifty." +.
His words and manner gave me a
new lease on life. Whoever the follow
might be he was seemingly friendly. l
must meet the fellow in that same
spirit and endeavor to extract from
him some knowledge of whom he sup
posed me to be.
II do not quite get the drift of all
this" ] ventured. You imply that you
know me-
I'LL, yes. Over in Bow Street. on
the other side. The Hartlebury rob
berry case. I'd been hearing about you
for years, and when that came on, l
took a chance and drifted into court
n day just to see what you looked
like. You've shaved your mustache.
and look ten years younger, but l
knew you, all right. / never forget a
face. Say, who put you onto this game
-Waldron?
/ nodded, taking a chance. "I'd have
bet my life he was the guy. l might
have known he would double-cross me
some way. OF course a tips a tip in
this game, and l don't blame you for
horning in. Naturally you never knew
this was my game-how could YOU?
! Waldron never said a word about me
did hep
Not once"
THAT is how 1 had it sized up. so I
don't hold any grudge against you.
Now listen" and he bent forward con-
tidentially, lowering his voice, so l
could barely distinguish the words.
We'll talk it all Over later, when We're
alone. 'Tain't exactly safe here, for
these walls are thin, and there is quite
a bunch around tonight. There's plenty
for the two of us, if we play the cards
right, and we'll let Waldron hold the
bag. What do you say, DalyY"
So my name was "Daly." Well. that
was interesting at least, although it
gave me NJ new light. However, moth
ing remained for me to do except agree
to his blind proposition.
That's mighty handsome of you.
What's the figure"
"A million I" enthusiastically. "Wait
until ! get a chance to explain the
plan 1t looks like Providence had just
handed us out the money"
why not explain the scheme to
me-"
Not now; there amt time He
glanced at his watch, land besides, for
all / know, some guy might be listen
ing In to what we say. You see there
Is a bunch o. hell-cats in there waiting
for me to give them a song and dance.
I'm the big end right now, but I've got
to sing low until I'm sure what word
these guys have got from Washington.
After that I'll know how to trim sail.
You wait until | come back. DAILY, and
then We'll plan this thing out. You
think I'm aiming to play fair, don't
! yCu?"
"