Evening star., 1921-10-05

stood with his back to the door. but.
grown more accustomed to the dark
ness now. he could make out faint.
blurred form, obviously that OF the
girl, few feet away from him.
Il want to see Nicolo Capriano," he
said.
1t was her turn now to pause before
she answered.
rs it necessary" she asked finally.
ITO me-yes," said Dave Hender-
son.
my father has already had far too
a low voice. HE is a very sick man:
There is some one with him now. II
you could give me the message II
would be better. AS for any help
you need, for you appear to be hurt,
I will gladly attend to that myself.
You may be assured Of that. II you
come from Tony Lomazzi."
She was Nicolo Capriano's daugh-
ter, then! 1t struck him as passing
thought, though OF no particular con-
sequence. that she spoke excellent
English for an Italian girl.
'1m afraid that won't do" said Dave
Henderson. seriously. ut is prac-
me to see Nicolo Capriano. and
From the front Of the house the
querulous voice rose suddenly in a
still higher pitch:
lereSa. IereSa.
"Yes. 1 am coming" the girl cried
derson: Wait here a moment. 1 will
tell him. What is your name?"
Dave Henderson smiled a little
queerly in the darkness.
IF he Is alone when you tell him. 1t
is Dave Henderson" he said. dryly.
She was. gone.
He listened as her footsteps died
away in the darkness: and then he
listened again at the door,. There
was still a great deal of commotion
out there in the lane. but certainly
there was nothing to indicate that he.
and Nicolo Capriano's back porch had
In any way been suspected Of having
had anything in common: it was
rather. as though the entire saloon up
there had emptied itself in haste into
the lane. and was running pell-mell
in an effort to be anywhere but In
that vicinity when the police arrived
Well. SO much the better! For the
moment, at least. he had evaded the
trap set for him both by Bookie
Skarvan's pack and by the police
and the next move depended very
largely upon Nicolo Capriano. or. per-
haps. even more. upon this daughter
of his. since the, old man. it seemed,
was sick. The girls name was ap-
parently Teresa-which mattered
very little. What mattered a great
deal more was that she evidently had
her wits about her-an inheritane e
possibly from the old man. whose
reputation, in his day, as one of the
coolest and shrewdest of those out
side the pale of the law. was at least
substantiated by the fact that he had
been able to stand off the police for
practically lifetime.
Dave Henderson raised his hand.
and felt gingerly over his right tenn
pie. The blood had stopped flowing.
but there was large and well defined
lump there. He did not remember at
just what particular stage of the figh.
that had happened. From his head
his hand felt over his clothing. He
nodded little ruefully to himself He
had come off far from scatheless-his
coat had almost literally been torn
from his back
Voices reached him again from the
front of the house: he heard the girl
speaking quietly in Italian; he heard
some response in the sullen whine
that he had remarked before. and then
the street door opened and closed. There
was silence then for what seemed a
long time. until finally he caught the
sound of the girls step coming toward
him again.
my father will see you" she said.
But 1 want to warn you again that
he is very sick man-sicker than he
imagines he is. 1t is his heart"
Yes said Dave Henderon.
Come with me. them she said.
tersely. There is a door here-the e
passage turns to the right. Can you
see?"
Continued in Tomorrow's star.)