Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-09-17


the fore end of the train and he Just
dropped into the nearest corner that
offered and closed his eyes.
Man. but he was tired! SO deadbeat
that he felt that he would never want
to move again.
1t had been the longest day that he
had ever known. Taverrer-a very oI-
ferent Taverner now that business was
to be discussed-had hammered hard
facts into him throughout the morning.
lie had taken him through a portrait
gallery of people to keep in with, col.
lection of photographs and sketches OF
others to be handled warily. Then
there had arisen the question OF codes,
the various means of communication
between Dighton~ and his chief and the
su-:mportant question Of salary.
Between noon and 1870 Dighton had
iunched in the city, arranged for the
disposal of his Office furniture and set
tied the few remaining bills. Dlghton
Z, Co., general agents, was thing OF
the past. 1t embodied period Of fall
ure that he wanted to forget as quickly
rs possible, and yet the final closing OF
that familiar door brought something
like lump into his throat.
Behind the incessant slogging to
make ends meet, the worries OF bust
ness man with the fates against him,
there had always been sense OF free
dom that was to be denied to him In
the future. :,
You will act on your own initiative"
Taverner had told him over and over
again. But Dighton knew as well as
he knew anything that he would only
be a cog in a vast, intricate machine,
that orders would come to him to be
carried out and that the real driving
force in the organization to which he
now belonged was Taverner himself
SO far as the journey to Italy was
concerned, he was given to understand
he was filling gap created by the
murder of a secret agent in trans
continental sleeping car. An authority
higher than the baronet limited his eS-
adjustment to a certain fixed number,
beyond which he was not permitted to
GO. Taverner had not created va
cancy to bestow favor on an old COM
rade. It had been case OF dead mems
shoes.
In the nebulous haze which sur
rounded Dighton's immediate horizon
three personalities stood out with
alarming distinctness-Emile Daudot,
the man with a limp; the Lizard, and
Karl Ahlborg, the inventor OF the
Pocket Death.
Taveraer attached little Importance
to the business which was to delay
Dighton in Paris, refusing pointblank
to believe that Daudot was the Lizard
in another guise He admitted that a
newcomer to the game to which he had
devoted the greater portion of his life
might hit upon a point which he him
self had overlooked, but insisted that ii
such had been the case Corlitt would
have ferreted it out long ago. His
changed attitude toward the dead sec
rotary amused Dighton. When he had
believed him to be alive, Corlltt had
been priceless ass. Now that he was
defunct, he shouted his virtues to the
skies!
"Get what you can out of Daudot,"
was his final advice, "and let me know
the result. If he jibs, fix up another
appointment with me. Oh, and give
him his hat! He may want it
The entire afternoon and most or
the evening, almost up to the moment
Dighton had to leave to catch his train
he had devoted to the creator of Ahlen-
lite and its more startling successor,
leaving imprinted on the younger mans
memory a portrait of an enormous,
bearded Scandinavian, with colossal
conceit in his own accomplishments
and eccentricities that verged on mad
ness. Leaning back in his corner, with
his coat collar turned up, only failing
through overtiredneSs to drop of alto
getller, Dighton could picture that villa
at Rapallo, it's rambling, unpictureSque
laboratories and the hungry pack OF
Alsatians that served as an effective
guard.
Ahlborg, from what motive it was
difficult to conceive, had stirred up a
veritable Juror In the foreign offices OF
every nation that mattered; had dam
gled his CHASTITY dope under the noses
of prospective purchasers and then pro-
ceeded to name a figure which was as
ridiculous as it was prchibitive.
Nor had he stopped at the Pocket
Death, for Taverner spoke Of things on
tripods like machine guns, with range
that made them effective upon infantry
and aircraft alike.
You need have no qualms," he had
said. "if ever you are ordered to take
definite steps against this man. He is
he holds the world in the hollow of his
hand-and he wants to play with it for
rs long as he is able. That's just as il
may be. AS long as he plays, nobody
minds. But Immediately he stops play
ing it behCoveS Us to use every means
In our power to thwart him"
Dighton did not care altogether fol
the idea of taking definite steps. AS q
cold proposition, looked at from dis
lance, an attack upon maniac with
the means at hand OF annihilatlne
armies, seemed tantamount to suicide.
AS a kind of side issue, thrown in
as 1t were, as an undesirable make
weight, came the Lizard. And the Liz
I'D in fNOccoccinY1 nf nf ALL.
borg's weapons, with four rounds I'm.
discharged!
He was doing now, with the rushing
of steam in his ears, the rumbling of 8
truck heavy with the luggage of some
late arrival and the sound of hurryins
footsteps on the platform outside
Presently these noises faded out alto.
eether and he was flying headlong ovel
q limitless desert, flattening out when.
ever one of those blue rays tina
searched the heavens dipped suddenl.
to earth. Ahlborg kept appearing il
his dream, attired as German officer
directing the movements of host o
crouching gunners. And then he wa.
running again, pumping lead into ;
threatening, invulnerable triumvir com
posed of his three archenemies ant
fused into one being after the manne
of SiameSe twins. A second eptsod
flashed upon the screen of his imagina
tion-that of darkened room, be-
and the Lizard, his mask rendered odd
ly luminous, bending over him with
knife. He saw him stretch out hi
other hand and touch him, felt the fin
gers pressing into his flesh so vividl
that he aWoke.
Its all right, SIR" said voice Il
his ear. ITS only me-Hodges, 20
know
Dighton blinked desperately and sill
his feet to the floor of the compart
ment.
"Hullo" he yawned. "You, is 1t
What's the trouble?"
The chauffeur thrust forward a
envelope and Dighton took 1t.
Game Just after you left, sir. Jarrei
found 1t in the hall Sir Ian was on
= but thought I'd better bring 1t alon
A.