Evening star., 1923-08-18

| peak of his cap completed the pic
Sure. AS last touch of realism, in
the yard below Greg Rrimed his
| hands and blackened his nails. His
| own mother would not have recog-
| nized him.
Holy smoke" cried Pa Simmons
| alooks like he was born in an owl
taxi and never seen the light of the
gun since"
| Meanwhile Pa Simmons had beer
| looking over the fiiVver. giving hei
r little grease here and there and
| tightening up nut or two. With
| Blossoms help he succeeded in modi-
flying the list to starboard that was
her most chacteristic popularity. In
case de Socotra might have remarke ed
her license number on previous
occasion they changed plates for to-
night with Blossoms car.
Greg took the wheel and Blossom
cranked her. Bessie waved good by
from the kitchen doorway All knew
tfat crisis in the affairs of Greg
afd Amy was due this night After
ti.e customary fustllade Of backfires
| while she was warming up the fiivveI
moved out of the yard
1t was now shortly after a. Greg
hastened uptown and from the tele-
graph office nearest the Stickney
| Arms sent his decoy telegram to de
So@otra. Returning then to Irving
place. he took up his stand just above
the Hotel dos Estados Cnidos, where
he could watch the entrance. To All
these who offered to engage him he
shook his head and pointed to the
faE on his taximeter. which was
doNn.
Efs principal fear was that the
telegram might be delivered too soon
and de Socotra get TO the apart
ment before the ladies returned from
the theater. This would be a calam
| ity since Amy would be unprepared
fnr i'm. oh
to get chance to read Greg's letter
until she got home.
Bat as , O'Clock approached and
ther" was no sign of de Socotra
lGres's anxieties took another direc-
ton suppose the telegram were not
delivered until after de Socotra had
left for the station: suppose he had
lalready been to the hotel for his bag
land would not get the telegram al
all. ;
Choosing a moment when the little
lobby was well filled Greg inconspicu-
ously made his way in and helped
himself to dring from the water
cooler. AS he passed the desk he
glanced In box 31S. The key was not
theref de Socotra then was presuma-
Greg: returned to his cab with ar
tearies mind.
| AT five minutes past five mes
senger boy entered the hoted with
several kilograms. among which Gree
deYoGtly hoped might be the one he
had sent. At ten minutes past Ave
de Socotra issued out Of the hotel
| In one hand he carried his valise ir
the other an opened telegram. His
face bore an expression Of strong an.
noyance not unmixed with alarm.
Greg eagerly called his cab to his
attention. Taxi siro"
I; De Socotra came quickly toward
him. and Greg. STOPPING. cranked his
car Thus de Socotra got in without
obtaining a good look at his chauf
feur. In a few minutes it would he
dark. Greg slid into his seat. and
turned an ear toward the back OF
his car.
where to. sir?''
"Stickney Arms apartment house
Riverside and 94th And hurry
back to the Southern Terminal be.
fore six"
Touching his cap. Greg opened her
up. Deep within him he chucklet
with satisfaction: de Socotra oh
lriously had no suspicion that he haC
ever engaged that cab before.
| As de Socotra got out at the Stick
ney Arms he said. with scarcely
glance at Greg: Let your engin,
run. | shan't be in here more thar
Ave minutes"
Greg waited. i'm what anxiety ca,
be imagined. The five minutes seem.
ed like az many hours From where
he stood beside his cab he could no
see the windows of the eighth floor
so he backed across the road ant
looked UP. On this part OF Riversfd,
the houses are not built directly OF
the Drive. but on a narrow roadWa
lterraced above it. There were orna
mental bushes and shrubs on thil
slope. IT was almost dark now ant
many of the windows showed lights
but not the third window from .th,
corner on the eighth floor.
Greg tried to picture to himsel
what was going on within the apart
ment. All OF sudden his plai
| seemed prepoSterouS to him. How
could he expect the carefully reareC
Amy suddenly to play the part of :
pickpocket successfuily,-and in fiv,
minutes. If she tried it at all H.
feared it would only be to betra!
herself to de Socotra with perhap
tragic results.
/ But just as he had made up hi
mind TO the worst his heart gave
great leap of gladness. for from tn
window he watched fiuttered some
thing white She had actually don,
it. Bravo. Amy
! He returned to his cab. Present..
de Socotra reappeared, and at TIL
same moment Henry Saunders cam
around the corner on foot. The twu
men met at the foot of the steps
They addressed each other in Spa nish
but from expression and gesture i
was not difficult to guess what wa
said. Saunders told de Socotra tha
he had something important to tel
him. De Socotra replied that he wa
in hurry to catch his train and in
rited Saunders to ride downtown will
him The two men entered the cab
Greg's face turned grim. What wa
the nature OF Saunders communica
ton? Was 1T possible that Amy
hancee intended to betray them?
De Socotra said: Back to TIL
Southern Terminal You can make |
If you hurry. You have twenty-five
minutes"
Turning into the Drive proper
Greg speeded downtown. On tha
broad thoroshfare. unimpeded b.
cross traffic. the speed limit is a littl
bit eased. At the end of the Driv
he bore through I'D street. but in
stead of continuing downtown II.
broadway, the main motor highway
he turned into Amste rdam. and run
ming in the car-tracks of that unfre
iquented street opened her up wide.
He would have given much to hea
! what was being said behind. What
ever il was, he fervently hoped that i
would not prevent de Socotra from
taking his train. Once he saw hin
safe aboard that train Greg deter
: mined that he would go openly t,
Amy and get the little black bool
| from her. Once they had tha
precious evidence in their hands
little matter if de Socotra did dis
| cover their relations. But Amy coul,
|, scarcely go on living under his roof
Greg had reached the boundary o
the Western Central freight yard
! and had turned east to find bette
street downtown when he wa
startled by violent rapping on th'
glass behind him. At the same mo
ment de Socotra opened the cab door
"Go back. Go back" he cried. i,
: a strained. harsh voice. Back to th'
apartment"