The Little River news., 1921-03-09
PART II.


 MT. Randolph spent the day getting acquainted and proved himself a good mixer. By telling . fey> ~toFies that had not yet sifted down from Club land and by standing few drinks he soon found himself made free of all the technical information he needed and some more that was so ultra-tech- nical that it could beat the brains that invented the delicate mechanism of the taximeter. He also established part ownership in comfortable room in house very much on the wrong or west side of Broadway in fact within smelling and almost splitting distance of the North river.
 While he was still in funds he bought himself a wooden khaki over coat with one of those enormous col lars which look like an inverted bucket when they are up and surpass in efficiency the traditional black mask so beloved by illustrators of the week ly press. He also had speaking slot cut in the glass of the cab window just behind his best ear and subse- qnently removed and lost the slide that had been fitted over it with con- siderable skill and trouble.
 During the next few nights he pro- ceeded to have the time of his life so much so that he was constantly over whelmed with wonder at his stupidity in not having become a taxi-driver years before! It should be remem- beYed that Mr. Randolph was of New York Yorky; he knew everybody cas- ually. from MT. Milyuns and his daughter, Eileen, down to the latest addition to the pitiful ranks of the midinette. More than that, so broad was his acQuaintanceship that as a sporting gent he had once or twice been tipped off as to the where and when of proposed gun-play.
 In addition to being by right of birth sn integral part of all the social strata of Manhattan, he knew the surface of the island and of the adjacent con- mOner soil of the mainland cOnsid- erably better than he knew the palm of his own hand. In fact, he could scarcely ever have been conscious that he had palm, even as a map of per sonal fortune; for he who is complete ly satisfied with the present never worries about the future and MT. Ran- d0lph had been born content.
 With such an equipment, is 1t to be wondered at that he found the taxi field rich with unexpected and sur prising blooms7 Fair flowers, he had known heretofore to nod only over tea tables and solid silver appeared sud denly transplanted to his cab and ready to nod on stalwart shoulder. Strong male tiger-lilies of the money market, grafted to the cushions of a taxi. became complacent pillars upon which sune cnnging ivy twined. a,
 In six nights he learned thes sound that banker makes when slender fingers tickle hiin under the chin; the gasp of a girl. hnst-kissed; the cry of young man upon discovering the ab. sence of grandfather gold watch, his since graduation day the chuck Of a top-hat fairly sat upon in the excite meIlt of moment that else would have been tragic, ttbs exasperatiag tap tap, tap, of hen-pecking tongue that explained and condoned murder mys- tery in the next mornings papers, and the sob of ruined youngster who had played with borrowed money.
 All these incidents took place with people whom MT. Randolph knew or knew of and just to show what an ex- tremely honest young man he was, let it be said that 1t did not once occur to him that he need never be poor while humanity, supposedly in good stand. ing, continued to lay itself open to blackmail at the rate of case night At the same time, he was not stupid and occasionally tapped out missive loaded with dynamite on the garage