The Winslow mail., 1922-11-03

you, and knowing that you knew how
to take care of yourself, ] began to
sniff for a way to get out, found
hole in wall, ducked through and
scooted. That was all natural enough.
Anybody could have done that. But
now comes the inspirational part. /
got around into Royal street and met
a steamboat captain who asked me to
have drink, and I needed it, for /
had been hard at work.
$50 I went in with him. And then
up | hops to o gambling house with
the money you'd paid me for intro
ducing you TO Nadine la Vitte. The
poker tables were full, so I nipped in
fnodestly at the faro-bank. That's not
very swift game, but sometimes it
Is as sure as buying houses and lots, If
you've got the patience. | invested
cautiously till about daylight, cashed
in exactly two hundred, and here
am as refreshed as a horse grazing on
clover"
Colonel, I congratulate you!' said
Drace.
The two breakfasted together. and
then Drace set out to find again the
house at the scene of the riot-the
house at the window Of which he had
seen the face of Nadine la Vitte. At
length he found himself in the side
street where he had taken refuge the
night before. and turning out of this
he came to the tree from the limb of
which he had cut down the half
strangled victim of the mob. There op-
posite was the house and there was
the window at which he had seen Ma
dimes face; hut across the window,
boards had been nailed! The other
windows, too, and the doors, were
nailed up; the place was deserted.
Could that face at the window have
been only a creature of his imagina-
ton?
An old negro in nondescript livery
few doors away. He might have been
foOtman to a harlequin. But when
Drace spoke to him, the dignified
change in his cOuntenance appeared
to alter even the aspect of his attire;
and now he might have been usher to
governor. This quick change had
been brought about by his intuitive
discovery that Drace was a man Of
consequence.
do you know anything about the
people who lived across the street,"
Drace asked.
"Wall, no sab; ola wus po' folks,
sah"
"Then you don't know where they
went"
mo sab. My 'ployment is ter look
after folks OBJ er higher 'dition, sab.
An den ter preach on Sunday"
"Oh, you are preacher"
"Called, sab, wild er blast from de
trumpet"
"Does your church ever need
money!" In a moment he lost his
dignity.
'Look yeah, boss, whut's er niger
church fur eff it amt ter need money?
Co'se it need money. But what you
gwine do erbout it?
"Yassuh,' he said, when Drace had
warmed him with greenback, II
reckon dey done moved away There
was er kind of rumpus last night. And
I reckon they-all thought it wasn't no
place fob dem no mo-; dey lef' mighty
sudden-like, uhly dis mawnin'."
And that was all Drace could learn;
no one in the vicinity would admit
that they knew them or. their destina-
ton. Disliking to call too much at.
tention to himself, Drace walked away
heavy-hearted. For long time ne
wandered the streets. He came to the
levee, and the French market. He
went into the ola ST. Louis cemetery.
and looked upon the novel sight Of
bodies sepulchered in wall with
doors like furnace. These compart-
ments, he learned, were rented by the
month to the poor; and short tenan-
try it was for many son and daugh-
ter of penury answering Eternity's
call, for when the grim agent failed
to collect the pittance promised by
sorrow, the shrouded renter was evict-
ed-an old Spanish custom, Drace was
told.
Recalled by these grim surroundings
to the purpose that had brought him
to the South, Drace now determined
to give himself wholly to his quest for
Stepho la Vitte. He returned to the
hotel, and found Shottle nervous in q
cloud of smoke. The floor was COW
cred with burned matches and the
stubs of cigars.
lib, I'm crushed" announced Drace.
$50 am /. But how does it happen
that the dust-cart drove over you too?"
Nadine is gone The place is nailed
up"
That's tough, all right But what
are you going to do about it? Are you
going to come to your puritanic senses