St. Tammany farmer., 1922-10-07
luustratior,s bt,
Irwin Myers

there. Fell was there. What he mus
90 demanded time, and his best pla,
was to gain all the time possible. ant
to prevent this gang from suspect1n.
him in any way.
DID you see Ben Chacherrer' h,
countered.
| "Uh-huh-seen him just after h,
come. Gumberts will be ont ,lav afto,
tomorrow, he said. The boss, Is sframin
some sort Of deal ons1a that he
wants laid away4sonlA gur=name o
Hammond. Chacherre lis running It
He figgers on gettfn' Hammond on &C
count of some car that's bein' hunted
| up"
Gramont laughed suddenly, for there
was grim humor about the thing. Sc
Jachin Fell wanted to 'get something
on poor Hammond And Chacherre
had seized the golden opportunity that
presented itself this afternoon-tn
stead OF getting" Hammond for the
theft OF car, Chacherre had coolly
fastened murder upon him!
| Ben Is one smart man; expect he
thinks the gods are working for him.
! said Gramont, thinly.: $50 you don't
know what happened today, eh7 Well,
it'x great news but I've got no time
to talk about it. They'll tell you when
tget back
"Where'd they gor' demanded the
other.
"Houma. Now listen close! Cha
cherre did not knew that I was in
partnership with the boss, get me? I
didn't want to tell all the crowd In
front OF him. Between you and me,
the boss isn't any too sure about
Ben"
"Say, I get you there!" broke In the
other, sagely Il tells him six months
ago to watch out for that Creole guy "
Exactly. You can tell the boys
about me when they come back-I
don't suppose Ben will be with them.
Now, I've been looking over that place
next door"
"Oh!" exclaimed the other, sudden
": "Sure! The boss said that one Of
his friends would be down to-"
I'm the one-or one Of them," and
Gramont chuckled as he reflected on
the ludicrous aspects of the whole af-
fair. I'm going to Houma now, and
then back to the city. My cars over
next door. Mr.. Fell wanted me to
warn you to lay low on the lottery
business. He's got notion that some
ones been talking"
"You go tell the boss" retorted the
other in an aggrieved tone, "to keep
his eye on the guys that can talk,
Who'd we talk to here7 Besides. we're
workin' our heads off on these here
boats. Memphis 1zzy Is attending to
the lottery-he's got the whole layout
up to the house. and we amt touching
it, see? Tell the boss all that"
'Tell him yourself" Gramont
laughed good-humoredly. "Gumberts
is coming out day after tomorrow, is
be? That'll be Friday. Him! I think
that I'd better bring Fell out here the
same day, II can make 1t. I proba-
bly, won't see Gumberts until then
I'm not working in with him and he
doesn't know me yet-but I'll try and
get out here on Friday with Fell. Now,
I'll have to beat 1t In hurry Any
message to send?"
"Not me-" was the answer.
Gramont. scarcely knew how he !.
parted, until he found himself scram-
bling back through the underbrush of.
the Ledanois place.
He rushed into the house, found the
fire had died down beyond all danger,
and swiftly removed the few things
they had taken from the car. Carry
ing these, he stumbled back to where
he had hidden the automobile. He
scarcely dared to think, scarcely dared
to congratulate himself on the luck
that had befallen him, until he found
himself in his own car once more, and
with open throttle sweeping out
through the twilight toward Paradis
and Houma beyond. A whirlwind Of
mad exultation was seething within
characterization as sudden and tre-
mendous as the past weeks had been
uneventful and dragging.
Gramont, In common with many
others, had heard much Indefinite
rumor of an underground lottery game
that was being worked among the ne
groes Of the state and the Chinese vii
lagos along the gulf coast. And now
he knew definitely.
Lotteries have never died out In
Louisiana since the brave old days of 1
the government-ordained gambles
laws and ordinances to the contrary.
No laws can make the yellow man and
the black man forego the get-rich-
quick heritage of their fathers. On
the Pacific coast lotteries obtain and
will obtain wherever there Is China
town. In Louisiana the days of the
grand lottery have never been forgot
ten The last two years OF high
wages had made every negro wealthy,
comparatively speaking. The lottery
mongers would naturally find them
ripe harvest for the picking. And who
would gravitate to this harvest field
II not the great Gumberts, the un-
caught Memphis Izzy, the promoter
who had never been "mugged!''
Here, at one stroke. stumbling on
the thing by sheer blind accident, Gra-
mont had located the nucleus OF the
whole business!
Gradually his brain cooled to the