Perth Amboy evening news., 1924-07-26
John AinSlGX
'gAMaSteK Ihief
\VG@5 5kdlu1 SonlelS Roche
&1 cop1yh 1924. NEA Service Ina
EGE RDEMANk NJ
CopYYiSht lQQA. NrA SET

oleSA po cdrelui' WARNED the
crook.
Don't worry about me. You said
you'd give me forty thousand; you
said you'd bring the cash here. I
said I wanted fifty"
well, what about it?" demanded
my host of the earlier evening.
This much about it," cried Dara-
gon. II get suspicious, and you get
sore. Well, If I'm wrong. I'll apollo
gize. Produce forty thousand in
cash. and I'll give you the ring.
You'll prove your good faith, and
I'll prove my regret" He waited a
minute. 1 thought, considering the
vast amount of cash that the other
man had shown me earlier in the
evening. that he might be able to
produce forty thousand. But If he
could. he evidently did not choose
to do so. II guess that will hold
you," sneered Daragon. "If I didn't
hste scandal, I'd call the police"
He turned on his heel, gave me a
grudging nod Of thanks, and walked
out Of the restaurant. I stood a
moment smiling at the crook.
you certainly do need me-" I
laughed. Then, though having
tanned me, I walked over to my
table. What did l, who was about
to die, have in common with such
a person? The thanks of hiHself,
or of his pretty feminine companion,
would not do me any good.
l paid my waiter and walked to
the check-room. l will confess that
l was slightly embarrassed a. my
inability to tip the coat-boy. But
need not have been; Tor Daragon,
just donning his overcoat, SAW me
and seemed to regret his lack of
courtesy. He handed the coat-boy
an extra coin.
Let me do that much" he said,
even though you did me shabby
turn" .
I stared at him. What do you
mean?" l asked.
We were at the cloak-room en-
trance now. Darascn jerked a fat
thumb toward the dining-room.
Don't you think had that
crooks number? 1t was the girl
wanted. 1 guessed their game, and
played the come-one simply to get
her where wanted her"
And where was that?" I asked.
He grinned. "She's stuck on him.
But l figured that if / caught them
with the goods, she'd forget how
stuck she was on him if l didn't
prosecute. Get me?"
81 do" said l coldly.
Il suppose she dropped it, and you
in. I'd have had them dead to
rights. Oh, we'll, man can't get
everything he thinks he wants"
A sense of the monstrous injus-
tice of life came to me. That in
justice could be remedied by
money. For instance, that jewel in
Daragon's pocket could be turned
into thousands of dollars. Even I. q
gentleman, had heard, in recent
months of poverty. of fences"
those men who buy the loot of
thieves; / even knew where one or
two of them resides. The skirts of
poverty brush the rect of GRIMM
ality.
l was about to die. because l had
neither productive nor constructive
brains. But perhaps 1 had the third
kind, a destructive brain. If my fur
collared friend could make a sue
cess of crime, despite the paucity of
Imagination which his clumsy
scheme for robbing Daragon had
disclosed, what a tremendous sue
cess l could achieved
Honor? Adherence to 1t led me to
the gutter, was about to lead me to
the river!
Daragon stepped aside to let me
precede him through the restaurant
door. l exercised the only talent that
had, sleight-of-hand. 1 substituted
the second box, which the girl had
given me, for the one that lay in
Daragon's pocket.
1 nodded farewell to him-to
more than him; to ali the past that
lay behind me. And I kissed my
hand to the future. / was nothing
within the law; l would be the
greatest living figure outside the
law. I would make the supercrim-
inal something more than the fiment
of a policeman's Imagination.
would bring to my new profession
the brain of a gentleman, certainly
fitted to cope with the intellect of a
detective. / would bring to my new
art tho culture of an aristicrat. /
would raise it from the sordid level
to which such people as my fur
collared friend repressed 1t. 1
smiled cheerfully as 1 set out to
dispose of the diamond ring gained
by my legerdemain.
beginning in Our Next Issue:
"THE CLUB Or ONE-EYED
MEN."l