Charlevoix county herald., 1921-03-25
"TAXI'
Concluded from Second Page


stolen the preposterous clock, and was
now on the club steps offering to set
tie with whoever was the interested
gent on a fifty-fifty basis.
Great was the CONSERVATION Of the
enterprising SPECTATOR in theft when he
was confronted by two persons I'm one !;
namely, Mr.. II. ii. Randolph, lessee
dolph. alias Slim Hervey the irate
driver Of said cab. His glib tongue,
loaded to the gills with arguments as
to how much the fare would save
through the sudden exit of the clock
from the ken of man, tripped hopeless
ly on this vision of wrath in the shape
of a driver in whose interests the tick
er had been faithfully shaving.
1t took Mr.. Randolph just thirty-two
precious minutes to force the crest
fallen one to replace and readjust the
busy bee of meter readings. When ne
returned to the fray upstairs, he no.
ticed a strange phenomenon of pc err
age, unmistakable age, had settled on
the faces of the five youths. He put
his fingers % his own countenance; he
could feel the added years.
The game ended, as do all titanic
battles, in absolute silence. Mr.. Ran
dolph sorted, stacked, tabulated his
winnings, and stuffed them into all the
pockets on his person. He then noted
the hour-eleven o'clock Of bright
Thursday morning-and, proceeding to
the nearest telephone booth, called up
Mr.. William Verries of Verries & Cat,
stock brokers.
THAT you, William? This is Bob
Randolph. William, I've got sixteen
thousand dollars in my jeans at the
moment of speaking. What's the low
est margin you'll give me to sell Anal.
/. s. & c. short for delivery at tomor-
rows closing?"
"Sell Anal. l. S. & C. short! !" gasped
Mr.. Verries. "Why, you're crazy |!
Buy, and I'll talk to you"
II don't want to buy" said Mr.. Ran
dolph patiently. You're right, in a
way, about my being crazy. You see,
since you saw me the other day, I've
come into some easy long stuff, and It's
just running my experiment in the
philosophy Of moneyless life. want
to lose my wad just like l told you,
and If you don't promise to start sell
ing for me inside of the next five min
utes. I'll let friendship slide and call
up some real brokers'"
"Well, If you put it in that way, you
escaped loon, I'll assist your sap-head-
ed philosophy to your exact cash limit.
When will you pony up?" -.
"In twenty minutes by the clock"
said Mr.. Randolph cheerfully, and rang
of.
' The historic pounding drive on
Anal. l. S. & c. that started with the
opening Of the market on the follow
ing day was of such Homeric proper
tons that the advance sale made by
Messrs. Verries & Cat on behalf of
Mr.. X. H. Randolph during the Thurs
day afternoon next preceding was a
mere drop in the bucket of oblivion to
the public at large-a mere fiea-bite
lost in the shutting of epidermises to
the monster saurians involved in the
combat but to Mr. Randolph, it was a
matter OF transcendent Importance.
With q feeling of great relief over
an order that he had placed with his
tailor nine days previously for COM
plete new afternoon anu evening out
fits, the successful hunchbuster col
I,.A1 ri VIZ n n
thousand, thrty-eight and no hun
dredths dollars and proceeded to turn
i'm his wagon to the Village Cab COM
pany, together with the highest clock
reading ever known in the history OF
Manhattan. He then chartered one Of
and directed it to carry him to his
new clothes.
At ten minutes to four, he emerged
from his tailor's, CARRIED In the very
latest thing I'm slim-line morning coats,
top hat, pearly-striped trousers,
spats, a notified, platinum-handled,
snakewood stick, and gardenia in his
buttonhole. Ignoring the wise and
friendly-sneering look on the face OF
the cab driver, who was none other
than our old friend of saturnine Wis
age. Patrick O'Iteilly by name, fallen
on evil times, and re-engaged that very
day on Mr.. Randolphs recommends
ton, he gave a certain address In
Fifty-ninth street.
Let us now break one Of the cardi-
nal rules of narrative for cash by
ruthlessly switching the objective point
of view. Behold Miss Imogene Pa.
mela Thornton dressed in a ravish-
ing, modestly modern tea-gown effect
that would have cost her great-great-
grandmother a ducking in the pond of
Blocker street II she had dared ia
wear Il In her day at a fancy-dress
ball, pacing up and down Mr.. Ran
dolph's recent sitting room and count
ing of nine on her fingers for the
hundred and eighty-sixth time.
And then, at last, the bell Tom
linson, his jaw set grimly, advanced
upon the door. For an agonizinl
small moment, Pamela held hel